Addiction
by TPKTheStoicTPK
Summary: Addiction is a funny thing. Sometimes, in the process of kicking one addiction, you pick up another one altogether... A KurokoXQueen threeshot ending with KurokoXQueenXMisaka
1. 阿片(Ahen)

Addiction Chapter 1: 阿片(Ahen)

Important Note: This storyline begins during the Three Stories Arc but quickly diverges from canon.

Less Important Note (but still one that should go up top): An excellent choice for music accompaniment would be "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell, so stick it on repeat and read onward.

* * *

It was as if Kuroko's heart had been ripped out, thrown on the ground, and then stomped on by a herd of elephants. That was how much it hurt to see her Onee-sama, her one and only love, as she met that spiky haired neanderthal out in front of the dorms, took his hand, and lead him away to go on a date.

The surprise on his face when that had happened could not hope to match the shock that adorned Kuroko's features. She was too stunned even to teleport after them and demand an explanation or to go and kick his stupid face in for daring to touch **Kuroko's **Onee-sama. She could only watch as they faded into the distance.

The next thing she knew she found herself walking. Not towards them, not away from them, not with any sort of destination in mind or plan of what to do when she got there. her mind desperately tried to process what she had just seen.

She didn't know how long she was walking for or where she was going. She only stopped walking when she collided with a wall and was forced to teleport over it. She was completely lost in thought as she walked all the way into the Gardens of Education, making her way to a park where she numbly sat down upon a bench where she continued to just sit for who knows how long.

After anywhere from a minute to an eternity a persistent presence managed to break through Kuroko's reverie and she was made aware that someone had been sitting next to her, though when they had started sitting next to her she was as unaware of as how long she had been sitting there herself.

Because her gaze was cast downward, the first thing she noticed about the person who had, perhaps unintentionally, been keeping her company were her fairly ordinary, though expensive, brown shoes. Then came the long white stockings that reached all the way up her well shaped legs to her upper thighs with an embroidered pattern near the top. Similar white gloves adorned the hands that were folded in her lap. The skirt and vest were familiar, in fact she was wearing them herself: they were part of the uniform of Tokiwadai Middle School. Unlike her uniform, however, the chest was filled out with a bust size that no middle schooler should have. She found her gaze lingering for just a second out of a mix of both respect and resentment before it finally ascended to the face, framed by golden blond hair and brown eyes that literally twinkled as they gazed at Kuroko, suggesting to the teleporter that the company that was being kept was most likely intentional.

"Shokuhou Misaki..." Kuroko said, instantly recognizing the girl despite never having seen her before. Her tone was measured and cautious, unsure what the girl wanted but knowing that she was not to be trusted.

"Do you always address schoolmates so formally Kuroko-chan?" the girl asked teasingly, raising an eyebrow at the cautious tone as she tilted her head slightly to the side.

"Do you always address strangers so informally Shokuhou-senpai?" Kuroko adjusted, speaking with the respect that she was obliged to show to a senpai without sounding friendly. In her irritation the respectful title of senpai was tinged with bitterness however, reflecting the mocking sort of faux-respect that the title of Onee-sama had once held in regards to another level five of Tokiwadai.

Misaki smirked, "Senpai..." she repeated, as if tasting how the word sounded in her mouth. The Level five was not used to being called senpai. Normally underclassmen would refer to her as The Queen or Shokuhou-sama or something similar. She found she preferred the more modest term, no matter how passive-aggressively it was used.

"Is there something I can help you with," Kuroko asked, more dismissively than with any sort of concern or urge to help. The faster she found out what the other girl wanted the faster she could make her go away. The faster she went away the faster the teleporter could go back to wallowing in self pity.

"Not really," the blond said with a shrug, seemingly being deliberately evasive just to annoy her.

"Then what the hell do you want," the teleporter snapped, all the negative emotions that had been passively bubbling up beneath the surface suddenly exploded like a volcano.

The look on the other girl's face was one of faux concern hiding the underlying mischief that was betrayed by the constant twinkling in her eyes and smugness in her aura. "Why I saw a schoolmate who seemed upset so I thought I'd come over and help them feel better."

Kuroko sighed. The explosion of anger had faded, leaving her with a hollow feeling of depression and despair. "There's nothing you can do..." she mumbled. There was nothing anyone could do about this pain... the pain of her love, her Onee-sama, going on a date with someone else

"You underestimate the power of a level five," the telepath smirked as, out of the corner of her eye, Kuroko saw her pull something out of the purse at her side. When she turned towards her out of curiously, panic bubbled up in her at the sight of a remote control pointed at her.

She was about to say something when the despair and anger lifted away, as if they had never existed to begin with. Kuroko straightened up, confused.

Nothing had changed... she knew that she should still be upset. It wasn't like she had just found out the whole date thing was some sort of miscommunication or anything. Still the emotions had somehow disappeared, as if she had discovered that the great load she had been carrying was nothing more than a hallucination.

"What did you just do to me," she queried, turning to the blond girl. It was the only reasonable assumption as to the source of this odd phenomenon.

"I made you feel better," she said simply, dropping the mask of concern to reveal the smugness that lay beneath it.

"Why?" she asked, puzzled as to why the level five, who she had rarely heard good things about, had done such a thing.

"I'm a telepath. When someone's feeling so down in the dumps I can feel it. And you were giving off some really bad vibes. It was ruining my little walk in the park," she explained offhandedly. Despite her words trying to paint it as a selfish thing, Kuroko couldn't help but feel that the reason was not entirely self-motivated.

"Thank you," she said, genuinely grateful, though still surprised and a tad bit suspicious.

"Don't think I did it for free or anything," she said with a smirk as she stood up. Kuroko's surprise and gratitude instantly turned to an annoyed distaste. Of course there was a catch, she should have expected as much. She knew of the rivalry between the two level fives of Tokiwadai. She'd probably ask for something to use as blackmail against Misaka or something like that. She knew she should have left as soon as she saw who it was that was sitting next to her. She was about to turn her gaze upward to glare at Misaki when a gloved hand entered her field of vision and reached out to her.

"There's a cafe near here that has the most delicious chocolate cake," Misaki's smirk faded into a smile, "Treat me and we'll call it even."

For the second time in a very short period Kuroko felt her emotions doing a 180 as her confusion returned full force. She glanced up at the older girl's face for any sort of trickery, but the smile was one of genuine kindness, further confusing the teleporter. Kuroko found herself taking the hand which pulled her up off of the bench and lead her out of the park.

The hand that held hers and the person attached still made her feel uncomfortable... but it wasn't unpleasant. The palm was warm and soft even with the smooth fabric covering it, the grip was gentle but sure, tight enough that Kuroko's hand wouldn't slip out of her grasp by accident but loose enough that she could slip out of it if she tried to.

Oddly enough Kuroko didn't try to escape even as the level five lead her through the park. She just stared dumbly ahead at the girl's mane of golden hair. She tried to find some reason for what was happening but was at a loss. She briefly wondered if the telepath was just trying to take advantage of her in some way... but that smile... there had been no ill intent in that smile.

Her knowledge of the nature of this girl screamed that it was all a trap. But she had thought ill of Onee-sama before she had met her hadn't she? The feeling in her gut told her to be careful but it did not seem to yell at her to flee.

Before she knew it they were standing at a table in the cafe and the hand let go of her as the Queen slid into the booth. Kuroko slid into the booth opposite her and picked up the menu. She scanned through it and soon decided on the strawberry shortcake. She had never been here before but the picture really made it look good.

Soon the waitress came. "Hello," she with a polite, friendly air, "I'm Rin and I'll be your waitress today. Is there anything I can get for you."

"Yes," Kuroko said, having collected herself enough at this point to speak in her usual high class fashion, "to drink I'll have the house blend tea and a slice of the strawberry shortcake please."

"Very well," Rin said with a smile as she scrawled it down, then she turned to the other girl, "and for you?"

"I'll have the house blend and a slice of the strawberry shortcake as well. In addition I'd like three slices of chocolate gateau, 2 mont blancs, and an eclair."

Rin's eyes widened and she stopped writing for a second as if expecting the blond to reveal that she had been joking. When no revelation came she wrote down the rest of the order, bowed, thanked them, and went off.

"Nice girl, you should be sure to tip her generously," the level five noted with a small smirk upon her lips.

"Do you normally eat that much or is this some sort of scheme to bankrupt me Shokuhou-senpai?" Kuroko asked, confused again for an entirely different reason.

"Oh it's normal enough for me to eat this much. I really love sweet things Kuroko-chan." She responded casually.

Kuroko's gaze couldn't help but drift to the girl's curvaceous form that betrayed no hint of a love of sweets or at least not the sort of indulgence in that love that was taking place now.

The Queen raised a gloved hand to her mouth and giggled, "such a perverse wandering gaze... are you perhaps trying to work out how I keep this figure with such a sweet tooth?"

Kuroko looked up sharply and frowned, opting not to respond.

"The answer's quite simple you know," Shokuhou continued despite the lack of response as her hand lowered towards her generous chest in a teasing manner, "no matter how much I eat it all seems to go to my breasts." She revealed smugly, wondering if that would succeed in riling up the teleporter like it always tended to affect her electro master roommate.

Kuroko appeared quite calm, however. She gazed at the blond girl with a raised eyebrow. She casually ran a finger through her auburn hair as she spoke, "it's not about what you have... it's about what you do with it."

The telepath giggled again. This time the peal of laughter was more genuine than before, something that made it considerably more pleasant to hear than the infuriatingly smug giggle from before.

"That's true I suppose," the older girl mused, "With the right clothes and makeup anyone can look good. So what's your excuse."

Kuroko bristled slightly at the implications of that last part, but she didn't let it show. Instead she shrugged nonchalantly and said "It's not like I don't wish I could wear makeup and clothes of my choosing but what can you do when the school has a uniform that's mandatory to wear even on non-school days."

"It is quite annoying isn't it. It's not like the uniform isn't cute or anything..." the Queen picked at her vest, "but I prefer a little variety you know?" Misaki said with genuine understanding and agreement about the annoyingness of that particular rule.

"If your dorm mistress is anything like ours, Shokuhou-senpai, then it really isn't worth it to break the rules," Kuroko shuddered, "not even level fives are above the rules after all."

A wide grin spread across the telepath's face as she drew another remote control out of her purse, "perhaps we are above the rules, perhaps we are not, either way you don't have to break rules if you have enough power to bend them." She touched a button on the remote and suddenly she was wearing a beautiful red dress that perfectly accentuated her figure and hugged her curves, with a low cut neck to reveal just enough of her generous assets to make a point while not revealing enough to be called trampy. It was sleeveless which just made her long white gloves stand out just that much more, and in this new outfit they were far more appropriate than they had been in her school uniform. Her long hair was now done up in a tight bun though stray strands hung down like golden threads. Her lipstick had gone from a subtle shade of peach to seductive red that matched the dress while newly applied mascara and eyeliner made the already hypnotizing eyes seem completely inescapable.

Had it been on her Onee-sama Kuroko's heart might have stopped right then and there from the sheer magnificence of the image. As it was the teleporter had a far more ordinary reaction to such a sudden and drastic change of appearance. Unfortunately for her dignity the standard reaction was choking on her own saliva as her eyes bugged out and her jaw practically hit the table. A second, slightly more powerful blow to her dignity came as the waitress came to the table exactly as this was happening, staring at her strangely as she placed the pastries and tea in front of the two girls. From the waitress's reaction, or lack thereof, to Shokuhou-senpai's sudden makeover, the teleporter was forced to presume that it was an illusion that the level five had created exclusively for Kuroko.

The last blow to the auburn haired girl's already crumbling dignity came when the level five across from her raised a gloved hand to her mouth once again and giggled with the worst possible combination of genuine amusement and mocking schadenfreuden. "Nice reaction," she noted, "I guess this means you agree that I can use my assets well enough no?"

Not even Kuroko was sure if the deep crimson blush that adorned her face was from the teasing she had just had to endure or from staring at the source of it.

Kuroko belonged, body and soul, to her Onee-sama, so the thoughts that ran through her head upon looking at that dress were not of the one wearing it, but rather how it would look on the one she wished would. The "spell" that blocked off all anger and grief and depression was still in place so she found herself thinking about things that would normally bring tears to her eyes without any emotional attachment at all, like how her Onee-sama would never wear that dress, or anything else, for her, how she would only ever try to look nice for others, such as that neanderthal with the spiky hair that she was currently going on a date with.

Suddenly she found her body moving all by itself as she blocked a fork that was moving onto her plate towards her slice of cake with her own fork. It was an automatic reaction programmed into her after countless identical attempts by Uiharu. This time though it was not a disappointed looking level one with flowers in her hair that was staring back at her from the other end of the fork, but rather a grinning level five with her hair in a(n illusory) bun looking at her with one raised eyebrow. "So you're finally awake. And here I thought you were so enraptured by my beauty you had fallen into a coma," the girl teased, "and with such a distant and perverted look in your eye. Honestly I don't know whether to feel flattered or sullied."

"Don't feel either Shokuhou-senpai," Kuroko told her, her voice tired rather than hostile as she knew it should be, "my thoughts weren't of you."

"Of course they weren't. I know your thoughts only ever go to one place," the Queen said as she stood up, the illusion fading as suddenly as it had appeared, leaving her in her school uniform once again, "but in case you ever find them straying, or in case the thoughts of someone else become a little too much to bear," she trailed off as she took out a pen and a scrap of paper and jotted something down, "just give me a call. I'd be happy to do this again sometime," she said with another genuine smile as she handed the piece of paper to Kuroko and left the cake shop, the bell on the door sounding its little ding-a-ling to announce her exit.

* * *

Kuroko found herself looking at that piece of paper several times over the next two weeks, staring at the numbers scrawled on it and the four characters that followed, XXX-XXXX 食蜂操祈(Shokuhou Misaki). Considering the speed and informality that she had written it with Kuroko was impressed by the neatness of the lines that made up all 48 strokes of the level five's complex name. Yet, despite the complexity of having a name made up of more than twice as many strokes as Kuroko's own, the name and number both were written with almost calligraphic style and flair as if to show her position even in an act as simple as writing her name.

It was mostly out of confusion that her eyes found themselves fixed upon the 7 number string that was the other girl's phone number. She still did not know what had possessed the blond haired girl to give her this, she did not know what possessed her to take it, she did not know what the telepath had meant by her parting words, she did not know what to do with this scrap of paper, so she looked at it as if expecting it to suddenly burst out in laughter and reveal the whole thing to be a joke, or perhaps thinking that if she stared hard enough the number would vanish, revealing that it had been another of the Queen's illusions.

But it would be a lie to say that those were the only times she found herself retrieving the piece of paper from her pocket and gazing at it and the simple message it held. Sometimes, in a moment of weakness after Onee-sama had been particularly angry at her, returning her loving affection with nothing but rage and violence for the 100th time over in a single day; in a moment of weakness after Onee-sama had been particularly harsh to her, labeling the joy she felt when any sort of affection, real or imagined, was shown by the other girl to be nothing but the teleporter's creepy perversion; in a moment of weakness after Onee-sama had been particular cold towards her, giving attention to those who were less deserving and not nearly as grateful for the electro master's notice while outrightly ignoring Kuroko, the person who would be happiest to receive even the smallest bit of regard; in these moments of weakness she sometimes looked at the piece of paper and thought about whether she should take the blond haired girl up on her offer. Up to this point she had dialed the number into the keypad, even had her thumb hover over the send button that would make the call, but she had always resisted at the last moment. But today was different.

Onee-sama had been angry at her ever since she awoke and found Kuroko in her bed. She had given Kuroko the cold shoulder, talking excitedly with Saten-san and Uiharu, while only sparing Kuroko any acknowledgment whatsoever when she was forced to zap her or hit her for an attempted apology hug. But the last straw had been the harshness shown when they had gone to a store and Onee-sama had fawned over some childish little gekota toy.

In a fit of frustration the auburn haired girl had accused the electro master of caring only about that childish mascot and not about her. She hoped that the older girl would deny the claim, embrace her and tell her that she cared about Kuroko deeply and then the electro master would do this and that to her (though that last part was mostly because that was how all of the teleporter's fantasies involving her roommate ended up).

But Onee-sama hadn't even hesitated in confirming the accusation with a simple and dismissive, "That's right."

Had Kuroko stayed she might have received a "just kidding" or something like that, but she had left immediately, teleporting onto the roof of a building over two hundred feet away while trying to contain her tears.

The words that the Queen had spoken two weeks ago echoed in her ears. She punched in the number, now ingrained in her memory after all those times she had read the numbers in confusion and weakness, and her thumb hovered over the call button for a moment before pressing it for the first time in two weeks. She heard it ring once. Then twice. Her resolve wavered and she considered hanging up and just going back when the line was picked up halfway through the third ring and a familiar voice answered, "Hello."

"Umm... Hey, Shokuhou-senpai, it's Kuroko," she answered, somewhat awkwardly, not too sure how this conversation was supposed to go. Her voice was shaky from unshed tears.

Surprisingly the level five did not tease the other girl for this awkwardness. Instead she sounded almost grateful as she said, "Oh, great. I was just planning on going shopping for some clothes. Take me."

"Given the dent you put in my wallet from going to a simple cake shop I think a shopping trip with you would bankrupt me three times over Shokuhou-senpai," Kuroko retorted, awkwardness vanishing in an instant at the casualness of the older girl's voice. However the shakiness of her own voice was still present.

"Don't worry, you don't have to pay this time. But I could always use a pack mule to carry my bags," the telepath said teasingly.

"Forget this... I don't even know why I called," the younger girl lashed out, frustrated more because of the situation than the fairly harmless barb. She was about to hang up on the level five when she heard the older girl speak.

"You called because you're upset didn't you? Because you're angry and sad and I can make you feel better," Misaki said, "I'll be sitting on the same bench in the same park as before. Don't keep a lady waiting." She hung up then, not giving Kuroko a chance to back out or regret her decision.

Kuroko looked at her phone for a second and sighed before teleporting towards the Gardens of Education, the park, and the level five that was waiting for her there.

* * *

She quickly arrived at the park and, after the Queen worked her "magic", the two went to a nearby clothing store to begin the promised shopping trip.

"How about this outfit? Does it look good on me?" a voice asked as its owner stepped out of the changing room. The outfit was of the gothic lolita style that was popular these days, full of lace and black and white ruffles that seemed both hot and inconvenient to lug around. This particular piece seemed to try and counter these issues by covering as little as possible while still trying to cram as much fabric as possible into the areas that were covered.

"Ignoring the fact that I cannot imagine any sort of situation which would call for such attire," Kuroko began as she turned to look at the outfit the other girl had donned, "There's the fact that it clashes with your plain white gloves and stockings. Perhaps with lace stockings and gloves as well as a few accessories it would be somewhat elegant, but it's hardly worth it when a lot less effort could be put into choosing other clothes which would suit Shokuhou-senpai better anyway."

The Queen giggled with what Kuroko would term a 6 out of 10 on the genuineness scale and clapped in an only **half**-mocking manner.

"I'm impressed," Shokuhou said.

Kuroko raised an eyebrow, "What are you impressed by?"

"You're the first person I've ever gone shopping with who has passed my little test."

"Test?" the teleporter repeated, raising the eyebrow higher.

"I put on a bad outfit and see the reaction, simultaneously checking whether the person has taste and if they're being honest with me," Misaki explained, "I have so many people I could go shopping with but they're all nothing but a bunch of yes-men who would tell me a piece of toast would make the perfect outfit for me if I said I thought it did."

Kuroko turned back to the rack, "You seem to me the kind of person who likes that sort of thing Shokuhou-senpai."

"Maybe a bit," The Queen admitted as she wandered back into the dressing room, "but it's not very helpful when you're trying to choose a good wardrobe. I don't want to hear that I look good in anything, I know that I do without being told that by them. What I want to hear is what makes me look even better."

"It's good that you care about such things," Kuroko sighed, "Onee-sama might always be beautiful but wearing the sorts of things that she does really fails to highlight that beauty."

"I suppose for her a mandatory uniform is a good thing; forces a bit of taste on her appearance," Misaki teased. Normally Kuroko would've gotten angry at the slander being directed towards her Onee-sama, but she was too much in agreement with it to process the fact that it was rude. "Hey, mind handing me that other outfit."

"Which one?" Kuroko asked, turning to see the Queen peeking out from the changing room doorway. Her gaze fell to the girl's bust. With the dress from before discarded it was now clad only in a bra. "Provocateur," the auburn-haired girl noted, recognizing the distinctive style of that particular brand of lingerie.

"Oh you know of them?" The blond asked, her eyes twinkling not with mischief, but with genuine interest, "your taste is better than I thought. I assumed your roommate might have corrupted you with her childish preferences."

"Of course not. I am far too refined and mature to wear something like pajamas with gekota print on them," Kuroko defended briefly before moving on, "I am a regular purchaser of that particular brand actually. They have a shop set up nearby."

"Oh believe me I know... in fact... what do you say we move this little shopping trip there hmm?" Without waiting for an answer she retreated back behind the curtain and changed into her school uniform again.

A few hours later Kuroko sat outside with Misaki eating a strawberry crepe that the blond had, surprisingly, paid for herself. Their bags of newly purchased skimpy lingerie sat at their feet as they ate their dessert.

"You're a lot kinder than I expected Shokuhou-senpai," Kuroko said to the other girl with a smile.

"I don't know whether I should be flattered at the compliment or insulted at the implication that you did not expect me to be kind," the Queen teased as she glanced at Kuroko before returning her attention to the sweet in her hand.

"Don't be insulted," Kuroko answered, "My opinion of level fives isn't all that good to begin with. I even thought that Onee-sama was nothing but an arrogant ojou-sama before I met her. I believed that she was the only exception to the rule but... I guess I was wrong about that too, and about you. Thanks for today, and last time as well."

"Don't worry about it, I'd be happy to do it again anytime. Isn't that what friends are for?" was all the level five said in response as she began to dig into her third crepe.

* * *

After that it became easier for Kuroko to dial the number. Whereas she had had reservations about using it before, even when she was in pain, now she was using it as an easy way out. She continued her attempts at affection, perhaps even more strongly and persistently than before, and when Misaka lashed out at her with hurtful words or hurtful actions she would call the Queen and be better within the hour. Whenever she saw her precious love with that neanderthal with the spiky hair she would call the Queen and be able to move past the jealousy and hurt.

It wasn't long before she was utterly addicted, to both the pain and the painkiller. And as often happened in the case of such an addiction, the pain got even worse, with smaller and smaller things needing to be numbed and larger hurts able to completely cripple her.

It was perhaps a month later that the greatest pain she had faced since that initial hurt, that first incident with Onee-sama's date with the neanderthal, happened.

"Touma," the electro master's voice pierced the silence of the room as she writhed upon her bed in sleep.

Kuroko, on the other hand, was very much awake. Her eyes were clenched shut but tears still found their way between the lids. 'Onee-sama,' she despaired, 'He's present even in your dreams? Where is Kuroko in them? I love you more than he ever could. So why do you love him?'

Her chest ached, her heart physically hurt, feeling as if it were being slowly torn apart. She sought the oblivion of sleep but in her anguish such a sweet escape was impossible. She sat up and fumbled around for her cell phone. Her shaky fingers sought out the number she was looking for. It was late, past midnight, but she couldn't bear it any longer. Her thumb hardly hesitated over the call button before pushing it and pressing the small device to her ear. She curled up into a ball, tightly hugging her knees as she listened to the ringing of the phone.

"What is it," said the voice on the other end in a tone that sounded as if it wanted to be irate, but was too tired to do so.

"Shokuhou-senpai... could I... I need..." she broke down into sobbing before she could get out a full sentence. After five seconds of sobbing she simply whispered, "Help me..."

"Come over," the voice on the other end told her. It sounded far more awake and there was a definite hue of concern to it, "You know where the dorms are within School Garden's are, correct? Head towards the eastern wall and then text me that you're there. I'll flicker the light so you know which room."

Kuroko nodded, despite the fact that such a gesture couldn't be seen over the phone, "Thank you." she whispered before hanging up.

She stood up, phone in hand, sparing a single glance towards the other bed, occupied by the love her her life, before her eyes blurred once more with tears as Misaka repeated **his** name. She disappeared, teleporting outside.

The freezing autumn breeze bit at her skin, barely covered by the see through pink babydoll that she was wearing. Her bare feet were practically frozen by the cold stone of the roofs which she landed on as she teleported towards the Gardens of Education.

By the time she reached the Tokiwadai interior dormitories she felt completely numb, both inside and out. She looked at the phone in her hand and wrote the short text with her frozen digits.

Ten seconds passed until Kuroko saw the lights in one of the room flicker on momentarily before being turned off again. This happened again, and a third time, though by the third time she was already inside the room.

The Queen stood near the door at the lightswitch in a golden yellow transparent negligee that matched her hair. In her hand was a remote pointed at Kuroko. As always the remote took away all the terrible feelings.

But as had been happening the past several times it left behind an odd pit in Kuroko's stomach. Not only that but... she found that her tears didn't stop. She continued to sob quietly, still standing near the window, not moving except for the involuntary shudders from the sobbing and the shivering from the cold.

She soon found herself wrapped in a warm embrace. Though perhaps the warmth was only in comparison to her own temperature. It must be unpleasant to hold her right now... yet the blond girl hugged her tight as she cried.

Kuroko wasn't quite sure when they had moved, but when her tears finally subsided she found that they were on the large bed in the corner of the room. The Queen was sitting up, her back resting on the headboard. Kuroko's head nuzzled in the crook of her left arm as the hand gently stroked her hair. The blonde's attention was fixed onto the large flat screen TV affixed to the opposite wall where a cheesy soap opera was playing on mute with captions.

The telepath spared Kuroko a glance and noted that the tears had stopped by now. Shokuhou reached over with her right hand, which held a handkerchief that she used to dab at the teleporter's eyes, "You're quite a considerate crier you know that? You don't make much noise and you don't sniffle much. You got my negligee a bit wet with tears but nothing worse."

"I'm sorry... I'm being a pretty big inconvenience to you aren't I?' Waking you up in the middle of the night so selfishly..." Kuroko apologized, only now realizing just how inconsiderate and frankly pathetic she had been in asking for this. She would have backed away but the crying had tired her out and the older girl's embrace was so... pleasant. She smelled nice and was so very soft.

"Well, I wasn't exactly happy at being woken up, but it's actually kind of nice to have company. I've never had a friend in my room before. And it's not like tomorrow is a school day or anything."

Kuroko glanced around, "The interior dorms really are different... this must be twice the size of our room... and you have it all to yourself?"

"The idea of roommates never really appealed to me, and with my power it's easy enough to manipulate the Dorm Mistress into acquiescing to my demands. If you want I might be able to make a suggestion or two to your own Dorm Mistress..." she grinned, the offer seen more as an opportunity to show off her superiority in her ability to do things that the Railgun could not than a wish to make the teleporter's life easier.

"Wouldn't work... you can only control humans. Our dorm mistress is a demon..." Kuroko smiled, finally regaining her sense of humor.

The Queen gave one of those cute, genuine giggles.

Kuroko's eyes strayed back towards the TV, "What are you watching."

"Akiya Sora," the Queen told her, "It's one of my favorite soap operas. You see that girl is Tsuki. She just found out that the child she's carrying, who she thought was Riku's, is actually Yuu's. Yuu is Riku's evil twin brother who took over Riku's life after Riku suffered amnesia and left the town."

Kuroko gave her a look that was a cross between, 'You surely must be joking' and 'If you aren't joking how in the world do you enjoy something that stupid sounding.'

"It's not as bad as it sounds," the blonde defended, "and I'm not turning it off so you either stay and watch it or leave if you have a problem with it."

Kuroko sighed, "at least it's better than Onee-sama's obsession with a children's show..." she said as she focused her attention on the screen. The older girl continued to hold the smaller girl to her and stroke her auburn hair almost subconsciously.

The pair watched as Tsuki began her search for the missing and amnesiatic Riku all while dealing with the physical and emotional stress of the situation on her heavily pregnant body.

"You know..." the telepath began, breaking the half hour long silence, "amnesia's always a horrible burden in these kind of things. They always forget important things and happy memories... but... don't you think if someone had something painful in their life that they might want to forget."

"It's hardly worth it to have your entire life wiped just to get rid of one painful thing. It's better to just get over it," Kuroko responded.

"Then what if you could just forget the painful thing? What if someone could just make you forget about whatever was causing you to suffer? No more tear filled nights, no more heartache, no more finding ways to cope with the pain, no more pain at all... Everything else is just the same... all you do is forget that one thing..."

Kuroko turned to the other girl. The implication was clear.

"You... you want to wipe my memories of Onee-sama?"

"Things are just going to continue like this if you don't do anything. Unless I do that I can't offer more than a temporary solution. You'll continue to be hurt and come to me and once you've forgotten the pain you'll go right back to be hurt again. If you want that it's your choice... all I'm offering is a way out of this cycle," her words were serious and full of concern. Even her eyes had stopped their twinkling, as if to stress just how sincere she was being.

"But... I love her," Kuroko countered somewhat weakly.

"I'm not saying that you don't, I'm not even saying that you shouldn't. I'm just saying that you should love yourself too... love yourself enough to know when something is hurting you and love yourself enough to do something to stop it." She turned off the TV and gave the teleporter one last look before sliding under the blankets.

"You can stay here tonight if you want. And you can give me your answer anytime..." She said as she settled in and soon fell asleep again.

Kuroko just sat there, thinking about the offer she had just received.

She loved her Onee-sama, she really did. She wanted more than anything to be loved in return and had thought that, given enough time she might just get the older girl to return her feelings. But...

Was there any point to it? Was there any chance that Misaka could ever love her back? Or was she just fooling herself? Was she just too blinded by her addiction to the electro master's presence to tell that it was a horrible, unbalanced relationship?

Was the pain worth it?

* * *

It took her two weeks of consideration to come up with a plan of action. She decided that she would either accept or decline after confronting Misaka herself about it.

So she sat in the dorm room, feeling like she was playing russian roulette without knowing how many barrels were loaded. Her heart raced as she heard a pair of familiar footsteps coming down the hall. She took a deep breath and braced herself as her roommate opened the door and entered the dorm.

She didn't waste any time. She stood up and went over to the older girl. She clasped her hand, looked into her eyes, and said very directly, "I love you Onee-sama.. and I need to know if you love me too."

Needless to say calling this a surprise would be an understatement. Misaka was completely stunned for a second, then a blush overtook her face, "What?!" She screamed, "Of course not you pervert! Why the heck would you ask that?!"

Completely unperturbed by the anger Kuroko simply moved onto her next question, clutching Misaka's hands tighter, "Will you ever love me?"

"N-No!" Misaka continue to shout, her blush deepening as she yanked her hand backwards, out of Kuroko's grip, "Now let go of me and tell me what the heck is going o-" the electromaster stopped suddenly as she noticed that there were tears pooling in the corners of the younger girl's eyes. "Kuroko..." she asked, all harshness dropped from her voice and replaced with concern.

"I... I thought... that would be... your answer... but... I had to... make sure..." the auburn haired girl said, between sniffs and sobs.

"What's going on Kuroko," Misaka asked as she put a hand on the other girl's shoulders.

"I love you," Kuroko repeated, "I love you so much that it hurts... it really really hurts. Whenever I'm away from you it hurts that I'm not near you, and whenever I'm near you it hurts that I can't have you..." the teleporter continued, "I love you so much that I can't stop thinking about you,and whenever I think about you I'm reminded that we're just friends."

The younger girl raised her head, her eyes now pouring tears at a torrential rate, "I'd be willing to wait forever if there was the slightest chance of you returning my love... but now that you've said you won't... I've waited enough... I've suffered enough."

Misaka's eyes widened in surprise. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Wha-what are you saying Kuroko?" She asked, making sure she had not misheard or misunderstood.

"I can't bear it anymore... I'm... I can't be your roommate any longer... I can't be just a friend anymore..." She told the love of her life, as she gazed into her brown eyes with her pink ones. She saw confusion and concern and surprise in those chestnut depths, but she could not for the life of her see the love, passion, or affection that she so desperately longed for. "I wanted to ask you first... I wanted to see if you felt anything towards me."

"Of course I feel things towards you. You're my best friend," Misaka insisted.

"But nothing more than that... You said so yourself..."

"Don't you think you're over reacting?"

"I know it seems like I am... but the pain is becoming so unbearable. I'm so sorry," the younger girl pleaded for forgiveness for a crime she didn't really commit.

Some tears found their way into Misaka's eyes as she shook Kuroko gently, "You're talking crazy... again... Just calm down and think about it."

"I have... I've been mulling it over in my head for a week," Kuroko said as she stepped back, freeing herself from the electro master's fairly weak grasp. "This took a lot of thought... but I think this is the only way..."

"What's the only way? What are you going to do? Move out and just avoid me for the rest of your life?"

The younger girl shook her head, her auburn pigtails flopping around limply at the unenthusiastic motion. "no... that would be impossible. We go to the same school and we have the same friends. It wouldn't work anyway... It hurts just as much to be away from you as to be near you."

"So what the heck?!" the older girl asked, her voice raised again.

"I am moving out," she said as she went over to her closet, picking out a suitcase she had used recently on her trip to Liberal Arts City, "Then... I'm doing the only thing that will take the pain away for good," she plopped the suitcase on her bed and turned towards the older girl, "I'm getting Shokuhou-senpai to wipe my memories of you and moving in with her instead."

At that word powerful anger flared up within the electro master. A flame seemed to burn in her eyes as tendrils of lightning snaked out into the air around her. In a deceptively level voice that one might think held a calm tone if they could not see the person from whom it originated Misaka said a single word, "What?"

"These past couple months... during these past couple months I've been going to her whenever... whenever I've been upset... whenever you've hurt my feelings unintentionally, at least I hope it's been unintentional. She takes the pain away, but it's getting worse," tears continued to fall from the younger girl's eyes as she spoke, "I love you Onee-sama... but this... I can't keep this up."

"Kuroko can't you just see she's using you?" Misaka screamed.

"I thought so too at first but..." the teleporter shook her head, "She takes away the pain. She's been kind to me and doesn't seem to want anything from me."

"She's just manipulating you, can't you see that? You know what she's like."

"I do know what she's like... better than you do. As for being manipulated... either way I'm being controlled by a level 5. Whether it's her ability or my love for you my life, my body, heart, soul, and mind belongs to a level 5. The difference is that Shokuhou-senpai wants them, the difference is that Shokuhou-senpai won't hurt them."

The words weren't meant to be hurtful, which made them sting all the more. "Kuroko," Misaka said weakly, this time her voice more filled with desperation than anger.

"If you ever want me back then just go and ask Shokuhou-senpai to restore my memories. I'll tell her to do it if you ask, but if you do that then you have to be ready to accept me... all of me. I don't want to hurt anymore Onee-sama..." Kuroko's resolve was so shaky as she finished packing that she was sure if she turned to look at the other girl even a single glance would make it break altogether. So she didn't look, she just vanished, leaving only a memory behind.

Within the hour she had left behind all of her memories regarding that room and the girl who lived in it.

* * *

Author's Note: Next chapter will be from The Queen's point of view, showing her motivation for all of this.

Anyway... if you're wondering why I wrote this... Well I'm an avid KurokoXMikoto shipper and that will never change. Pretty much any time either of those two are paired with anyone else (like KurokoXUiharu or MikotoXTouma) I find myself put off by the prospect. But for some reason I don't seem to mind it when it's KurokoXMisaki or MikotoXMisaki. The former doesn't have many interactions but those few interactions they do have I quite enjoy.

Hence Addiction...

Also... if I may go on a bit of a rant here about KuroMiko and KuroQueen... I am a supporter of it but when I look at it... it's kind of a horrible relationship, on both ends. They both have several signs of being abusive. Kuroko is codependent and clingy to a far greater extent than is healthy and she attempts to control several aspects of Misaka's life and advance their relationship far sooner than is healthy. Misaka is both physically and frankly emotionally abusive towards Kuroko. That scene where Kuroko claims that Misaka cares about Gekota more than her is adapted from an almost identical scene in the Railgun 4-Koma and just like in my story she says that it's true. In the 4-Koma she said she was just kidding then zapped Kuroko when she tried to hug her in the next panel, giving her incredible physical and emotional abuse within 4 panels and less than 5 seconds. She just leads Kuroko along and then punishes her when she gets close.

Kuroko does have an excuse at least. When I looked at the 4-Koma again I realized that her behavior was quite familiar... And then I realized that it's almost an exact match for Borderline Personality Disorder which has symptoms like: Problems with regulating emotions and thoughts, impulsive and reckless behavior, and unstable relationships with other people (look it up and you'll see exactly what I mean).

Even if it is an unhealthy relationship Kuroko won't really break out of it. To Kuroko there really is no one for her but Misaka, which is what all of those people that pair her with others don't understand. She found someone to latch onto and she'll cling to them until she feels that they've abandoned her... after which... well 80% of people with Borderline Personality Disorder attempt to commit suicide so I'm sure you can guess what she'd do next.

But with the Queen this changes. Because the Queen can wipe memories she can replace Misaka in Kuroko's mind in an extremely literal way. Sure if there's a lot of time for her to adapt (and a lot of visits to a therapist) she could theoretically go with someone else, but the Queen provides an easier solution.


	2. 酒(Sake)

Addiction Chapter 2: 酒(Sake)

* * *

Shokuhou Misaki had always had an easy life. She was intelligent, beautiful, rich, and powerful. Unlike Misaka Mikoto, who had started off as a level one and became a level five, Shokuhou had started off as a level four who quickly advanced to become one of the seven most powerful ESPers in the city.

The Queen really was an appropriate title for her. Like a Queen she had had everything from birth without having to earn it. Effort might as well not exist in her vocabulary for all the cause she had to use the word.

But putting effort into things was what made life fun, thus this lack of hardships and troubles was quite boring for the Queen. So when there was someone she could not conquer, someone who required effort to control, it intrigued the level five greatly. For the first time in so many years she had to put effort into something, into someone, and it was so exciting.

As the commercials began the blond briefly glanced away from the television that was in her bedroom towards the auburn haired level four that was nuzzled in her embrace, the girl who was the target of her recent efforts. She sobbed quietly, tears pouring down her face and creating a damp spot on the older girl's negligee.

At first humoring the teleporter to this degree would have been unthinkable. The very idea that she would allow the auburn haired girl to barge into her room in the middle of the night and just begin to cry, interrupting her favorite show in the meantime, the very idea of allowing such a thing would have been laughable.

But when it came to that girl unexpected things were common enough.

Yes... that girl who had caused her so much fuss, the girl who she had wasted so much energy over, that girl who was the source of the only true hardship in the Queen's life at the moment. Not the crying girl who she now embraced, but the girl who had caused the tears: The level five electro master Misaka Mikoto.

* * *

The story of the Queen and the Ace began a little under two years ago. Elementary school was just ending for Shokuhou Misaki, already a level five with a larger bust than some of the teachers. Soon it would be time to enter middle school.

In Academy City there were five middle schools of the Queen's calibre, which was to say the highest calibre possible. They were all pretty much of the same level with nothing truly distinguishing them. So the Queen sent applications to all of them to see which took the longest to reply, with the logic being that a school which would hesitate for even a second in allowing a level five to become a student must be the most discerning and therefore the best.

As expected four of the five school sent replies so quickly that she truly doubted that they saw anything more than just her name and level. Only Tokiwadai seemed to take a bit of time to consider her before sending an acceptance letter, thus it was Tokiwadai she chose to join.

As it turned out, the reason they could hesitate to accept her application was because, unlike the others, Tokiwadai already had another level five who was enrolling in the same year. Had it not, had Misaka Mikoto joined another school, Tokiwadai would have sent a near instant reply as well, with only the school that Misaka was now a part of choosing to hesitate.

In this way their destinies were, in a way, intertwined. No matter what they would have gone to the same school.

Shokuhou liked to think of it as fate at least. She supposed she was just a hopeless romantic when it came to those sort of things. After all, they were two level fives, the rarest breed of ESPer, of the same age who had managed, by "coincidence", to find each other in this great big city. She could tell she and this Railgun girl would get along great, whether it was as friends, or as puppet and puppetmaster if the friend thing didn't work out.

Perhaps if Shokuhou had had more failures and disappointments in life she would have thought to come up with another plan of action in case both of those failed, but she had never had both her natural charm and her ability fail her, it was practically unthinkable. Sure it wasn't like her mind control was perfect, even she would have to admit that people could resist it, but it took a lot of willpower to do so, and not many people had that, level five or otherwise.

But of course, the natural charm and offer of friendship came first. She preferred it that way. People around her were manipulated enough by her level, status, appearance, etc... already without her having to use her ability to make any sort of relation between them even more fake and forced. After finally finding someone who was on the same level as her, and therefore not an adoring fan or conniving weasel trying to exploit her for something or other, she wanted the relationship to be natural.

That day, the day of the entrance ceremony where she would first meet the level five electro master, she took extra care when getting ready, trying her hardest to look nice, to spruce herself up for Misaka and then prepared to make the level five her friend.

Unfortunately the Queen had never had to make friends with someone before... she thought that everyone naturally wanted to be her friend. She thought that, even though she wasn't after anything that the Queen had or was, the girl would immediately want to be her friend. When this turned out not to be true, when Misaka showed reluctance to be the friend of a snooty rich level five who thought that her power made her better than everyone else, the snooty rich girl in question was quite offended. Shokuhou very quickly resorted to using her powers, which failed, to her utter surprise. This in turn just made Misaka angry and started their notorious and long-standing rivalry.

Shokuhou had never had a rival before. She was better than other people, that was how it had always been. She had to admit it was kind of... exciting to have one now, someone who could finally challenge her, who could finally challenge The Queen herself for her throne.

That was... if Misaka seemed to care at all about her position... As it was the electro master hardly acknowledged her as a rival at all and certainly made no bid for power or "reign" over the school. She didn't so much as raise a faction to challenge Shokuhou's own one. She simply kept to herself and didn't really make any trouble.

It was so frustrating. Nobody ignored the Queen unless she wanted them to. Did the chestnut haired girl think that she was so much better than the blonde that the latter did not even deserve her attention? She spent so much of her own effort thinking about the electro master so why did Misaka seem to completely disregard her?

There were times that Shokuhou thought about using her ability and faction to make Misaka's life as hellish as possible, but try as she might she could not deny that a small part of her still wanted to be recognized as an important person by the level five.. to be the level five's friend, perhaps even more... perhaps even her best friend.

That small part of her wouldn't be content until her obsession, her addiction, to the electro master was met with some sort of success, even as her pride and arrogance were sabotaging any efforts she made towards that very goal.

* * *

Thus a year passed without any progress on that front, and Shokuhou's addiction had done nothing but get even stronger.

Then their second year had started, bringing with it several new things including new students. Among these new students was a level four teleporter by the name of Shirai Kuroko. She was haughty and pompous, disliking the girls around her for the same "ojou-sama" traits that she herself displayed prominently. Shokuhou had been slightly interested in the girl, or rather her ability, which was one of the rarer ones in Academy City. It might have made an interesting addition to her faction.

Still she did not care enough about the girl to do anything when the invitation she extended was rejected. The name was quickly forgotten as the telepath busied herself with the task of dealing with the fawning first years, most of whom had already divided themselves between those who supported the so called Ace of Tokiwadai and those who supported the Queen.

The Queen, of course, accepted these new fans of hers with the same mask of benevolence she always had on. Inside she didn't really care, they were nothing more than more pawns for her to have on her side, more bodies that she could turn against her enemies, more toys she could play with. She didn't really feel bad for these feelings of course. They too thought that they were just using her as a way to gain more power and status by claiming to be in the same faction as a level five.

At times she wondered if she would be happier simply ignoring them like Misaka-san did. But that hardly seemed to work. They had power, and power attracted people whether you tried to or not. Perhaps that was why Misaka-san typically ate lunch on the roof where nobody could get to her, otherwise her table would always be full with power-hungry ojou-samas with fake smiles and faker offers of friendship. Misaka-san was too nice to push them away or use them as they tried to use her. That was why she did not have lunches that were hand fed to her by one girl as she received a manicure from another and a shoulder massage from a third.

There was one day, however, when the electro master's mask seemed to slip just a bit. It was about a third of the way through lunch when she had entered the cafeteria for the first time in a long while. She sat down at the nearest table heavily with an aura that spoke of a wish for solitude that was reluctantly heeded by the other students. She had apparently been muttering something about a particular person.

Judging by some parts that were overheard and the fact that the lunch had been apparently partially eaten before she had arrived at the cafeteria, the Queen used her incredible deductive reasoning to determine that a person had managed to find her up on the roof. Probably a particularly persistent fangirl.

Shokuhou had done a bit more investigation and was surprised to find that it wasn't a fangirl at all, but rather someone who considered themselves completely neutral: that first year Shirai Kuroko. A bit of mind reading of the teleporter revealed that she knew the electro master from a series of Judgment incidents that the level five had been involved in, though she had not recognized it had been her at the time. She had gone to the roof to eat lunch for much the same reason as the 2nd year and, when she had seen her, confronted her about these incidents, berating her lack of sophistication and class which had resulted in the teleporter being shocked (literally) and the electro master storming off.

It was an amusing memory to review and an even more amusing prospect: someone who could cause the mask of kindhearted compassion that the brown haired level five had on constantly to slip even a little bit. She remembered to watch the first year just a little closer from now on.

Her investigation revealed that the level four had more depth than she had, at first, thought. Despite the girl's entitled attitude she was an agent of Judgment who worked hard to protect the students of the city, putting herself at great personal risk in the process. Her haughtiness was seen more as an obligation of her social status than something she actually felt. Underneath it all she was a surprisingly selfless girl with great dedication and passion.

Such passion and dedication was revealed as the teleporter slowly began to fall for the brown haired level five. It was revealed even further when she completely fell for the electro master and began to take almost -no... not almost, not almost at all- disturbing measures to become close to the other girl.

If the Queen were honest with herself then she would admit that what happened next had been an act of both concern for her fellow level five and jealousy towards the teleporter for going after the electro master. Misaka was still Shokuhou's rival after all and she didn't appreciate anyone treading on her territory.

Whereas before she had always discouraged any conflict between her faction and Misaka's unofficial fanclub she now endorsed her faction to pick on this teleporter. Shokuhou might have liked Misaka too much to do anything bad to her, but she had no issues whatsoever in making the auburn haired girl as miserable as possible. And of course this was just helped by Misaka's fanclub,who were doing the same thing to the person who dared get close to **their** idol.

Unfortunately this was not an easy thing to do. No matter what tactics her faction and the fanclub tried Kuroko did not seem bothered by it. Emotional bullying and name calling did not seem to affect her at all. She was too cunning to fall for any simple pranks that the girls pulled. And any physical threats or confrontation was doomed to failure because of her far superior combat abilities and ability to escape any engagement instantly.

Despite the efforts of almost the entire school Kuroko and Misaka's relationship continued to get closer. The final straw came when, through exploitation of dorm rules, the teleporter managed to become the electro master's room mate. After hearing about that the Queen decided to take the matter into her own hands. She managed to implant a simple command in the younger girl's head, an order to deliberately antagonize Misaka to ruin their friendship, a friendship that should rightfully be the Queen's.

But the idea of saying something to deliberately hurt her precious Onee-sama was so absolutely abhorrent to Kuroko that she fought against the very thought of it with all her will, and it turned out that her will was powerful enough to resist the command of the level five, a nearly unprecedented happening. If the Queen tried other commands Kuroko would follow them but if it had to do with hurting Misaka then Kuroko would fight it.

Of course Shokuhou still had plenty enough control to completely destroy Kuroko anyway. If she wanted to she could use her power to force the teleporter to do something embarrassing enough to completely ruin her reputation. If she wanted to she could use her power to wipe Kuroko's memory and mind completely blank, effectively rendering her little more than a simpering infant incapable of even basic functions. If she wanted to she could even, using her power, send Kuroko into a depression deep enough to drive her into suicide or just force her to kill herself outright.

It was a mixture of respect for the girl's ability to resist her commands and her arrogant pride, which saw taking such an easy method as a sort of loss, that stopped her from doing any of this and just leaving the two to their own devices for a little while. It hardly satisfied her and she was still completely obsessed with finding a way to ruin their friendship and get Misaka to see her as someone important to her, important enough to recognize as more than an annoyance, important enough to make the electro master think about the blond as much as she thought about Misaka. Shokuhou needed a way to soothe her addiction to the girl.

* * *

A few months after the start of their second year the Queen sighed as she took a stroll through the streets of the Gardens of Education. Today was their last day of break, meaning tomorrow school began again. She'd get to see Misaka again soon... not that that really mattered. Whether she wanted to be friends or enemies that girl didn't care at all. For once the Queen was putting effort into something, a huge amount of effort as well, and yet still getting nothing in return. She could be a minor nuisance, could get under the electro master's skin with things like remarking upon the other girl's lack of a bust, but she could do nothing to get the other level five to consider her anything more than a petty annoyance.

She needed a way to either become Misaka's best friend, or worst enemy, she would not accept anything less than one of those important stations.

But thoughts on that were best left for another day, Shokuhou decided to relax and take a walk through her favorite park, maybe go to that cake shop with that nice chocolate cake... As usual she didn't bother taking any money to pay for such a treat. All she'd have to do was call up one of her faction and they'd be over in a heartbeat, eager to do anything to please their Queen. But then she'd be stuck with a clingy little groupie for a while... Maybe she'd just control one of the waitresses or the owner herself and make them give her the treats on the house. She briefly wondered if that cute waitress that seemed to have a bit of a crush on her would be there... perhaps if she did a bit of flirting she wouldn't even have to use her powers...

She kept herself occupied with these thoughts until she reached the center of the park and saw that the bench which sat on the edge of the cobbled pathway was occupied. In the bench sat a young girl wearing a Tokiwadai uniform, probably a year younger than the Queen herself, with auburn hair tied up with ribbons into two pigtails. Her body was scrunched up into a little ball and her head was hung. It was extremely obvious that she was very depressed about something.

Knowing the type of people that went to their school it was probable that the cause was something simple, like breaking a nail. The people at Tokiwadai, rich people in general in fact, were so fragile. They let their emotions get out of hand so easily. Shokuhou rolled her eyes and was about to keep walking when she realized that she vaguely recognized the girl. After a few more seconds of contemplation she realized that the girl was Misaka's friend, Something or other Kuroko. It had been a while since she'd bothered with her and she just wasn't important enough in the grand scheme of things to remember her name. Her thoughts this vacation were full of Misaka, not her friend, regardless of how big an aggravation said girl was.

But that unimportance of the teleporter just made it worse really... The Queen huffed at the indignity of it all. That that girl could become friends with the other level five while Shokuhou herself could not would always be a terrible injustice to her. There was nothing special about that girl, she was not a level five like the blond, not as beautiful as the blond, not as rich or refined as the blond. That Kuroko person did not deserve to be Misaka's friend...

Suddenly a flash of inspiration hit the Queen and she began hatching an evil plan. Donning her best veil of sincerity she sat down and waited to be noticed. She knew a little bit about the teleporter from the thoughts and memories that Shokuhou had, in the past, read. Even though it wasn't much, for an expert in psychology like she was it was plenty enough to devise a plan of action.

Kuroko was a girl who fought a constant battle against herself, trying to keep her unstable emotions under control. Around Misaka she could let those emotions out without risking driving the electro master away or hurting her, but as a result it became far too easy for the electro master to hurt Kuroko in turn and harder to control those feelings once they did slip out.

But the Queen could control them. Shokuhou's power would let her take all those rampaging emotions and quiet them down... the control that Kuroko sought. It was only temporary and didn't truly solve anything, like an injection of morphine after getting hurt. But in the same manner as the morphine it would be so easy to choose it as the easy way out whenever something bad happened, it would be so easy to come to rely on it, so easy to get addicted.

Shokuhou could make Kuroko utterly reliant upon her, and then she would have the teleporter right in the palm of her hand. She'd have Kuroko cut off contact with Misaka and join her faction as just another lackey, albeit one who served as a permanent reminder to the other level five that the Queen was the only person that the girl could trust to never betray her.

* * *

That was the plan at least... But where Misaka or her friends were involved things rarely went as planned.

It was her own fault that it had failed, the Queen supposed in an extremely rare admission of fault. She was supposed to get Kuroko to become dependent on her, while remaining utterly neutral herself.

These tears that the teleporter was staining her negligee with were like clarion calls proclaiming her victory. She was supposed to be happy, she was supposed to be smiling triumphantly, she was supposed to be revelling in the fact that auburn haired girl was crying into her shoulder, seeing it as a clear sign that she was now as important to the Kuroko girl as the other level five, and thus that the younger girl was a mere step away from ditching the electro master to become just another one of the blond haired girl's lackies.

She wasn't supposed to want to embrace her and stroke her hair until she stopped. She wasn't supposed to want to tell her that everything was going to be ok.

She was supposed to do those things... but wanting to do them was different. It meant it was more than just an act. She really cared about Kuroko, she had for a while...

It had started before the second date... er, the second stage of the plan rather, as she would have called it back then. After that first time in the cake shop Shokuhou maintained an enthusiastic mood which hovered over the line of devious schadenfreude and vaguely nervous anticipation that somewhat diminished with each passing day. As the first week came to a close and the second week was on it's way out, this feeling was replaced by an increasing anxiousness. The most fitting analogy would be waiting for a boy to call you after your first date, with the only difference being that there was a slight sense of admiration along with the anxiousness and disappointment.

Assuming that she kept the number, which the Queen did have some reason to doubt, then she would be very hesitant to use it, at least the first time. Shokuhou knew this much. There was a lot of suspicion, so she wouldn't use it until the pain became unbearable. And considering Misaka was, by all reports, being her usual callous self, this meant that the reason it was taking so long was that Kuroko could stand a lot more pain than the blond haired girl gave her credit for.

By the second week Shokuhou accepted that the teleporter had probably just thrown the number away. Luckily, thanks to her power, she could always just start again from scratch. Wipe the memory of that first encounter and try again.

She tried to recall the conversation in the cake shop to try and figure out where she had gone wrong, however she was soon distracted by one part of the conversation.

"It's what you do with it huh," she said as she looked into a mirror that hung up on the wall of her dorm where she was currently relaxing. Even though they had mandatory uniforms that didn't mean that they weren't allowed any other clothes. In fact the level five had a whole closet full of all sorts of clothes. She liked clothes and liked shopping for them.

Of course the problem was that shopping for clothes wasn't nearly as fun alone as it was with other people. And even with all the people in her faction who would follow her every whim she didn't really have anyone she could honestly admit to wanting to spend time with. They were all such suck ups anyway. With clothes shopping you needed honest opinions on what looked good on you and what did not, she really couldn't trust anyone to be honest with her...

'Such a pity,' she thought, 'I really do feel like going.' Suddenly her phone went off. She sighed and took it from her pocket. It was probably just another one of her numerous lackies who called her far too often for her own liking. She answered it and was surprised to hear that it was Kuroko.

"Umm... Hey Shokuhou-senpai, it's Kuroko," the teleporter said with surprising awkwardness.

Normally the blond would have teased her for this awkwardness but it suddenly hit her that she could get the auburn haired girl to go with her. She would be more likely to supply an honest answer than her lackies, "oh, great. I was just planning on going shopping for some clothes, take me." For a moment her plan of controlling the teleporter was forgotten altogether. Right now she just wanted a friend to go shopping with... and ironically Kuroko was the closest thing to a true friend that the Queen could muster right now.

The plan wasn't remembered until Kuroko mentioned the reason she had called, or sorta vaguely broached the subject at least... Then she switched to her smoother, controlling persona to try and convince the girl to actually go along with the plan.

But alas that was not the first time throughout that dat- stage... that the Queen found herself forgetting the plan. By the time they reached the lingerie shop it had completely slipped her mind, not to return until it was almost over.

Of course this was not Shokuhou's fault at all. It was all that teleporter's fault for distracting her. Like she was doing now...

"You see what I mean," the blonde insisted, "you look great in that," she said referencing the transparent pink babydoll that the teleporter had on and was showing off to her.

"Hmm... I'm still not sure Shokuhou-senpai..." Kuroko responded hesitantly as she checked herself out in the mirror.

"Come on, it's sexy. The way it kind of blends into the skin so that from a distance it looks like you're wearing nothing at all, but when you get closer you can make out all the lacy details, and yet closer still and it looks like you aren't wearing anything again. Lingerie is supposed to be for people up close and it's supposed to be sexy," the Queen explained seriously then switched to a much more mischievous tone as she added, "and you need all the help you can on that front."

"Lingerie isn't just supposed to be sexy," Kuroko corrected the Queen, again taking the statement as more of a fact and less of an insult, a thing which annoyed her a bit, "They're also supposed to be elegant, and the fact that it's hard to see kind of wastes the elegance of the design. Since I'm not that sexy even with this on I prefer to go for elegance."

"And that love of elegance is why you seem to think that this looks perfect of me?" the blond asked as she gestured to the golden yellow transparent negligee that Kuroko seemed to think made her look so nice, but she felt was a bit of a waste considering that it did not emphasize her considerable assets in the way that most of her others did. "It's not very flattering at all in the chest region," she said, gesturing to the area in question, "and it has these pointless things," she tugged at the garter belt, "They're unnecessary."

"You have a large enough chest that it doesn't need to be flattered, in fact it draws eyesight away from other regions that are just as important to flaunt, big breasts or not. You have plenty of sexiness on your own, so your lingerie should be more elegant."

"And you have plenty of elegance of your own so your lingerie should be sexier," the Queen pointed out, neither of them trying to compliment the other, but rather doing so accidentally in defense of their own tastes. "How about this... I'll buy this for myself if you buy that for yourself. And we both have to wear it at least once."

"Deal," Kuroko agreed as they shared a slight smile and went back into the changing rooms.

Shokuhou realizes she's acting oddly when she buys herself and Kuroko crepes **with her own money!** She shrugs it off as her really getting into her role as Kuroko's source of support and comfort but when Kuroko tells her "You're a lot kinder than I expected Shokuhou-senpai," and her heart genuinely skips a beat she realizes that may bot be completely true. She's glad that Kuroko isn't looking at her because her face goes bright red for an instant at the sudden and unexpected compliment.

She covers it up with a teasing remark but the veneer is shattered again when Kuroko smiles in a cute way and thanks her. She blurts out her next sentence, "Don't worry about it, I'd be happy to do it again anytime. Isn't that what friends are for?" before she has a chance to think about what she wants to say. She quickly digs into her third crepe before she says anything else.

"Friends?" Kuroko whispers to herself in a questioning tone. When the Queen doesn't answer, seeming too busy with her crepe to bother with a response Kuroko just smiles again, "yeah... I suppose that is what friends are for. I guess I'll see you later Shokuhou-senpai." She disappears after that.

Several minutes later Shokuhou is laying on the bed in her dorm, her face still red from that one simple sentence that the teleporter had said. She didn't deny being friends... In fact she had kind of confirmed it.

"I have a friend..." Shokuhou said out loud. For once she had a friend who didn't care about her status or beauty or ability, she finally had a friend who liked her for her. She hugs her pillow and thrashes about on the bed a little as a big smile appears on her face.

"I have a friend!" she repeats happily.

* * *

She begins to check her phone for any messages from the teleporter so often that rumors start going around about the level five getting a boyfriend. The rumors are a couple of characters off but they do get her wondering. Right now Kuroko saw herself as belonging, mind, body, and soul, to Misaka so right now being her friend is all that Shokuhou can hope for. But she finds the idea of Kuroko as something more than a friend to be a little titillating.

She knows she's that kind of person, she's known for a while now, known that some of the glances that she directs towards Misaka haven't had the best of intentions, known that the pervy comments and remarks about the electro master's chest she makes when they were all undressed in the room for their physical examinations or changing for gym contain far more admiration than she intended, known that some of the dreams she's had about her and the other level five have them engaging in activities that are not normal for friends. She knows she has those leanings and knows that the teleporter does as well and finds that the idea hardly repulses her.

In her mind she begins to refer to their meetings as dates rather than stages of her plan, a plan that has now been tossed by the wayside.

Of course unlike dates they are hardly planned and could come at any time, so she begins to put extra effort into her appearance every day to ensure that she's ready when one of their meetings arrive. While this just furthers the rumors about her getting a boyfriend she's quite happy about it when she's out walking one day and gets the call that she's been waiting for.

"How about meeting me at the movies this time?" Shokuhou mused after the obligatory hellos and Kuroko's request to meet up.

"Which cinema"

"How about the one just outside the Garden of Education? East... something or other..."

"Yeah... ok... I'll meet you there..." the teleporter sniffed once before hanging up, wiping her tears, and heading off.

Kuroko had not been to the movies since she, Misaka, Uiharu, and Saten had gone together a couple of months ago. The four friends had quite different tastes. Misaka had recommended going to see a children's movies, Saten had recommended comedies, Uiharu had recommended romance, and Kuroko, in an effort to take advantage of the situation, had recommended a horror movie.

Kuroko liked to think that this disagreement was why they hadn't gone any more, but in truth it was simply that, after the fiasco that had happened during the movie, Misaka no longer trusted Kuroko enough to go to the theatre with her, so when the others wanted to go to a movie they just didn't tell Kuroko about it. It was kind of mean but Misaka was heavily of the opinion that Kuroko deserved it for her behavior "you reap what you sow" she had said, and the others kind of had to agree.

Because of that it took a little longer than anticipated to find the theatre, but due to her ability she still arrived in short order, beating the Queen there by about 10 seconds despite the latter's close initial proximity to the location.

When she arrived the Queen was quick to do the usual emotional purging.

"So which movie did you want to go see?" Kuroko asked once that business was done with and she began to feel better. She looked at the theatre and then at the line of movie posters that displayed what was playing right now.

"I don't know," the Queen said with a shrug. She was not a movie type of girl. She much preferred television with it's terrible soap operas and (her ultimate guilty pleasure) police procedurals. "What kind of movie do you like?"

The teleporter looked a little startled at this question. Not only was she startled because of the person asking it but because she had never really been asked that kind of thing before. Her friends firmly believed that all of Kuroko's tastes were either perverted and creepy or high-brow and boring. In their eyes the teleporter was a very shallow person whose sole interests were her Onee-sama and her job. Asking her what she wanted to do was just asking for trouble, and in Misaka's case a thorough fondling, so they simply didn't bother. "You didn't have a movie in mind when you asked me here Shokuhou-senpai?"

"Not really... to be honest I just wanted some popcorn," Shokuhou lied. In truth she had chosen this place because of it's atmosphere. It might be a cliche but it was also traditional to take one's date to a movie. Of course she was the only one who thought this was a date... but still...

"Why not simply buy some and eat it at home?"

"Because cinema popcorn is better," the blond contested, "if you don't want to be here you can just leave you know... you're not obligated to stay with me. It's not like I'll just drop that little effect if you go." This was said with more than just a hint of indignation and, if one had a really good ear, hurt. Did the teleporter not want to be here? Did the teleporter not want to be with her? Was she just here because she felt that it was payment for Shokuhou's "service". She didn't want to force the teleporter to be here... if she did then their relationship was as artificial as the one between her and any one of her ordinary lackies. Even though that was exactly what it was supposed to be at first...

"You're doing something kind for me... it would be rude not to repay you.. and besides... I kind of like hanging out with you. I'm just surprised you'd bother with me. From what I've heard you don't even go out in public much."

"Oh I go out a lot, but I just mask my presence from most people. It lets me do what I want without it affecting my reputation and gives me that mysterious air that makes me just that much cooler... now then. you haven't answered my question yet: what kind of movies do you like?"

"Uhh... I..." Kuroko turned to look at the movie posters, checking them out. The Queen watched her face as she scanned them. "How about this one?" She said as she picked the one that looked the most refined, the one that she would feel least embarrassed about liking.

Shokuhou grinned and pointed at another poster, it was for one of those really trashy martial arts movies featuring a Bruce Lee-esque person beating other people up while following a flimsy excuse for a plot if indeed one existed at all. "How about this one," the Queen proffered.

Judging by the auburn haired girl's shrug and her tone of voice as she said, "if that's what you want to see," that sounded as if she was repressing a sort of happiness or excitement Shokuhou guessed that she had chosen correctly. It was, after all, the only movie poster that stirred any sort of reaction or interest from the teleporter. Much like police procedurals were Shokuhou's guilty pleasure Kuroko simply loved trashy kung fu movies. She loved the simplicity of it, the clear divide between good and evil, the straightforwardness of the romantic subplots, and the protagonist's simple, easy to understand motives. She wished real life were that simple, if it were she wouldn't be buried in paperwork every time she beat a criminal up during her Judgment work.

The Queen was not quite as fond of the movies as the teleporter was. She just didn't see the appeal of 2 guys beating each other up in a highly exaggerated manner. Despite all her knowledge of people and how they thought she just could understand why the auburn haired girl was so enraptured by such mind-numbing violence. yet for nearly the entirety of the movie the other girl was on the edge of her seat, staring intently forward. Every so often during the fight she would make slight motions, ducking or weaving or throwing a phantom punch which would match the action onscreen.

Shokuhou didn't see much of the movie. She was far too focused on the girl sitting next to her. Seeing the smile that adorned her face and the little motions she made subconsciously... it was so cute.

Unfortunately for her the movie wasn't very long and so the pleasant picture ended all too soon. Kuroko quickly straightened up and looked to the blond girl. "Did you enjoy the movie?" she asked.

"I enjoyed watching," she stated ambiguously, "what about you?"

the teleporter shrugged. "it was ok I guess..."

This simple nonchalant declaration that was so at odds with her behavior during the movie was enough to send the level five into a fit of giggles and then laughter which was further fueled by the embarrassed little frown that Kuroko gave her.

"How inelegant," the younger girl huffed, to which the blonde responded by ruffling her hair playfully.

"Inelegant perhaps but sometimes you just have to laugh," the Queen said as they walked out of the theatre into the main lobby.

"I do not see what was worth laughing about Shokuhou-senpai."

Shokuhou turned slightly to grin at the teleporter when something caught her eye. She took the other girl's hand and led her towards it.

"Shokuhou-senpai what are you-" Kuroko began, but then saw the direction they were going, "the photo booth?" The older girl struck the teleporter as someone who did like to get her picture taken but not by something as pedestrian as a photo booth.

"Come on it'll be fun," she said as she tugged the other girl into the small, cramped space. "Now then, what pose shall we do?" She asked as she slid in enough money for 3 pictures.

"Does it matter?" Kuroko huffed again, always surprised by the excitable and slightly eccentric nature of the blond haired level five in comparison to the electro master.

"Of course it does," the Queen insisted as a grin overtook her face, "I hear kissing each other is pretty common in these things, how about it?"

"Last time I tried that I got zapped and the booth exploded," Kuroko recalled.

"There's no danger of that this time," Shokuhou sated as she drew closer and pressed the button to activate the timer, "so come on."

"I wasn't saying ok..." Kuroko protested as she drew away slightly, but not enough as the older girl's lips pressed against her cheek as the first camera flash went off. Then she pulled away and turned towards the camera, smiling widely, winking, and throwing up a victory sign as Kuroko looked at her with a frown and the second camera flash went off. Kuroko sighed and facepalmed as the third and final flash went off. The Queen then eagerly began decorating them.

"What kind of border do you think would be better: sparkles or hearts?"

"Whichever," she said ambivalently, a phrase and attitude which would persist throughout the process.

Finally Shokuhou finished and got the pictures printed, handing a set to Kuroko while keeping a set for herself. They parted ways shortly after that and the Queen headed back to her dorm. When she arrived back she had flopped down onto her bed and looked at the pictures while touching her lips gingerly.

'A little daring perhaps... but quite fun' she thought to herself as she got her phone out and looked at it, wondering when the teleporter would call again and they could have another date.

* * *

An art gallery is the location for their next date, followed by a zoo, then a salon, and for their most recent one they went to a restaurant. They were getting more and more frequent as well. Had she been keeping to the original plan she would have realized that this was the sign that the dependence she was fostering inside Kuroko was getting stronger, but as it was she was just happy to be spending more time with her friend.

She really shouldn't have been caught off guard by what was happening now, but she was. She shouldn't want to comfort the girl, but she did.

But this temporary fix just wasn't working. Painkillers didn't get rid of the pain, only numbed it for a short time. She didn't want to let the girl go only to see her get hurt again. She didn't want her to have a reason to cry anymore. She didn't want to see her precious friend like this.

An idea comes to her as she watches her show. She offers to get rid of the pain for good, to wipe the electro master from the teleporter's mind.

The offer is made casually and she makes sure to feign sleep before Kuroko can follow her up on it. In truth she stays awake that whole night along with Kuroko.

For the next two weeks she didn't hear from Kuroko at all and she thought she had made a terrible mistake. She thought her offer had been interpreted as an effort to drive the auburn haired girl away from her beloved Onee-sama, which it was in a sense but only for the teleporter's own good.

But she still kept her distance, worried that any attempts at asking about it would be seen as her pressuring the younger girl, and she didn't want to rush this decision.

Still as the days went on she became more and more frantic and worried. So much so that, when Kuroko finally appeared in front of her, suitcase in hand with tear filled eyes and tear stained cheeks, she seriously thought, for just a second, about tossing her out to pay her back for all the worry the teleporter had caused her. But a second look at that cute crying face easily quashed any notions of that as she embraced the girl, holding the teleporter to her chest until the tears stopped and the struggling began. She let go and Kuroko pulled away immediately, taking a deep breath in a manner which suggested that something, or two somethings, had prevented her from breathing before.

Kuroko took a little while longer to recover well enough to speak. She looked at the blond and told her that she was ready to have her memories of Misaka wiped.

"But if Onee-sama repents, if she's ready to accept me, all of me, back then I'd like you to restore my memories," the Queen nodded and Kuroko looked to the side, slightly embarrassed about her next request, "also... can I move in with you Shokuhou-senpai... I probably should have asked you about that beforehand but..."

"Sure, I'd be happy to have you as a roommate," Shokuhou replied with a smile as she got out a remote, "now then... let's start the process ok?"

It didn't take long for her to fully wipe the girl's memory of her friend, only a second. The brain then spent several seconds creating new memories and explanations to fill the gaps left behind.

"Ah Shokuhou-senpai," Kuroko said, sounding slightly startled. With her memory wiped she wasn't entirely sure why she had come here. "Sorry... am I intruding."

Misaki shook her head and stepped forward, embracing the younger girl and kissing her on the lips. The clumsy kiss lasted a few seconds before Kuroko teleported a few feet away.

"Shokuhou-senpai?" the auburn haired girl asked, seeming confused by the older girl's actions. She gingerly touched her lips.

"S-sorry... was that not ok?" the blonde said, feeling nervous herself. It had been quite the bold action fueled by adrenaline, but now that that surge of adrenaline had worn off she was quite embarrassed and a bit worried. It wasn't like her but that was the kind of thing that love did to people.

"No... it was ok... it was just... it was my first kiss and I was a bit surprised," she said, not able to remember all the others she had shared with Misaka, "but... if it's you it's fine..." She looked up at the older girl, a blush coloring her cheeks.

"It was my first too," the blonde confided, "and this is my second." she stepped forward again for another kiss, slightly less clumsy this time.

And as the kiss lingered the Queen had one singular thought in her head, 'It was worth the effort.'

* * *

Author's Note: I'm quite busy with my other story but if I get enough reviews asking for it I might be convinced to include Kuroko and the Queen's other dates in more detail when I have the time. If you want that just leave reviews asking me to do that and I'll see what I can do.

Anyway... it's kind of odd... in no interaction between Misaka and the Queen where Kuroko is present does the Queen seem to even consider using her powers on Kuroko, only ever when it's part of a bigger plan and then it's not really manipulation so much as memory wiping. It's shown in both the manga and the 4-koma that they would work if she tried... but she just doesn't seem to want to. It could be fear of Misaka's retribution. A more likely explanation would be that the Queen knows that Misaka would have no problem zapping Kuroko until she was unconscious, making her an ineffective tool to use against Misaka. Or it could just be that there's something else going on...

On another note... the Queen's power is truly terrifying if you really think about it. I could imagine far worse things she could do then what I mentioned here. Really it's a good thing that she's so benevolent, or at least harmless. If she was an antagonist I'd honestly be far more afraid of her than I would be of Accelerator.

Oh, and a note about the titles of the chapters: the last chapter, Ahen, is the Japanese word for opium in reference to the painkilling drug. This chapter is the Japanese word for alcohol in reference to the fact that drinking alcohol is as much a social event as it is a method of drowning your troubles which mirrors the Queen's fascination with Kuroko being limited to their dates rather than necessity.


	3. 歓喜(Kanki)

Addiction Chapter 3: 歓喜(Kanki)

* * *

Misaka sighed as she made her way back to her dorm. She'd just finished hanging out with Uiharu-san and Saten-san after the former had finished her work in Judgment. They had invited Kuroko but she had said that she still had work to do, an excuse that she had been using very often these past two weeks. The few times she had accepted the offer she always seemed somewhat distant.

"If it was anyone else I might think that they got a boyfriend..." Saten had remarked as she sipped her soda.

Misaka scoffed. "The day when Kuroko gets a boyfriend is the day that pigs fly," she shot back.

Uiharu nodded, "yeah... she's still obsessed with you. I don't think getting a boyfriend is anywhere in her mind."

"She's been disappearing a lot recently as well," Saten mused, looking at Misaka.

The electro master shrugged, "it's just what she does... she goes off to sulk and then comes back perfectly fine." She hadn't even needed to apologize yet, which was good because she still felt that she was justified in her actions against Kuroko. "She's just been sulking for a bit longer than usual recently."

"A lot longer," Uiharu protested, "before it was like... five seconds, a minute tops."

"Either way it's just a childish little tantrum," Misaka huffed, "and she calls me immature. It's not like it's stopped her from being a pervert or anything. She's still the same Kuroko..."

The words were harsh but they were not heartfelt. In truth the electro master was a lot more worried than she let on. This was in part due to her tsundere nature but mostly due to the fact that Misaka had been conditioned never to give the teleporter so much as an inch, lest she try to take a mile. It wasn't as if she didn't want to be nice to Kuroko... it's just that often, in the past, any attempt at affection or kindness was seen as an invitation to do something perverted and she didn't want that.

She really should've just given up, most people would have, but not the level five. To her Kuroko was a good friend, a great friend, and once she learned that a friend was all Misaka wanted her to be and stopped her perverted, misguided affections, the happier they both would be.

Shocks, physical abuse, verbal abuse... all of them were simple ways to discourage Kuroko from being such a damned pervert. Perhaps once she conveyed to Kuroko just how annoying and unwanted her actions were she would finally get it through her thick skull that being friends was a better idea for the both of them.

* * *

She opened the door to the dorm and was surprised when she was accosted practically the moment she stepped into the room. Her room mate had grabbed onto her hands within the first three steps and was looking into her eyes with an odd seriousness and more than a hint of fear, as if she was about to jump off of a cliff with a parachute that only had a small chance of opening. "I love you Onee-sama," the younger girl said, "and I need to know if you love me too."

Her face took on a deep crimson hue within seconds, "What?!" She screamed, her mouth operating out of reflex, "Of course not you pervert! Why the heck would you ask that?!" The tone was far too serious to be just another ploy of dubious intent.

Kuroko did not seem to perturbed by the shouting as she asked another question with desperation now colouring her voice "Will you ever love me?"

"N-No!" Misaka continue to shout, her blush deepening as she yanked her hand backwards, out of Kuroko's grip. Her heart was racing. To be confessed to this seriously was... so confusing... she had never thought of Kuroko's feelings as anything other than misguided infatuation and it was just beginning to hit her that Kuroko genuinely loved her. Her feelings were immediately thrown into a jumble as she tried to figure out what had provoked this, "Now let go of me and tell me what the heck is going o-" the electromaster stopped suddenly as she noticed that there were tears pooling in the corners of the younger girl's eyes. "Kuroko..." she asked, all harshness dropped from her voice and replaced with concern. Kuroko crying was always Misaka's sign that she had taken things too far, that she should apologize for being mean. Recently it hadn't happened, the teleporter always left before being reduced to tears. Right now she wasn't sure what she had to apologize for.

"I... I thought... that would be... your answer... but... I had to... make sure..." the auburn haired girl said, between sniffs and sobs.

"What's going on Kuroko," Misaka asked again in a more gentle manner as she put a hand on the other girl's shoulders in what she hoped was a comforting fashion.

"I love you," Kuroko repeated, "I love you so much that it hurts... it really really hurts. Whenever I'm away from you it hurts that I'm not near you, and whenever I'm near you it hurts that I can't have you..." the teleporter continued, "I love you so much that I can't stop thinking about you,and whenever I think about you I'm reminded that we're just friends."

The younger girl raised her head, her eyes now pouring tears at a torrential rate, "I'd be willing to wait forever if there was the slightest chance of you returning my love... but now that you've said you won't... I've waited enough... I've suffered enough."

Misaka's eyes widened in surprise. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Did the teleporter mean... was she seriously... "Wha-what are you saying Kuroko?" She asked, making sure she had not misheard or misunderstood.

"I can't bear it anymore... I'm... I can't be your room mate any longer... I can't be just a friend anymore..." She told the love of her life, as she gazed into her brown eyes with her pink ones. She saw confusion and concern and surprise in those chestnut depths, but she could not for the life of her see the love, passion, or affection that she so desperately longed for. "I wanted to ask you first... I wanted to see if you felt anything towards me."

"Of course I feel things towards you. You're my best friend," Misaka insisted. Kuroko had been her first friend in such a long time and she wanted to continue being friends. She had worked so hard on becoming friends and trying to shape Kuroko into a proper friend. Why was the teleporter quitting after all this time? Was this all their friendship meant to her?

"But nothing more than that... You said so yourself..."

"Don't you think you're over reacting?"

"I know it seems like I am... but the pain is becoming so unbearable. I'm so sorry," the younger girl pleaded for forgiveness for a crime she didn't really commit. Hearing the guilt in her voice just made Misaka feel guilty herself. She had no idea the pain that she was causing the other girl. Kuroko never showed any sort of pain to her beyond the odd tears or depressed sulking in the corner. She had never meant to cause the girl any pain, she just wanted a friend.

Some tears found their way into Misaka's eyes as she shook Kuroko gently, trying to rouse her from this madness, "You're talking crazy... again... Just calm down and think about it."

"I have... I've been mulling it over in my head for a week," Kuroko said as she stepped back, freeing herself from the electro master's fairly weak grasp. Misaka let her go. "This took a lot of thought... but I think this is the only way..."

"What's the only way? What are you going to do? Move out and just avoid me for the rest of your life?" Her voice was far unsteadier than it should be but she didn't want this, she didn't want to lose her best friend.

The younger girl shook her head, her auburn pigtails flopping around limply at the unenthusiastic motion. "no... that would be impossible. We go to the same school and we have the same friends. It wouldn't work anyway... It hurts just as much to be away from you as to be near you."

"So what the heck?!" the older girl asked, her voice raised again.

"I am moving out," she said as she went over to her closet, picking out a suitcase she had used recently on her trip to Liberal Arts City, "Then... I'm doing the only thing that will take the pain away for good," she plopped the suitcase on her bed and turned towards the older girl, "I'm getting Shokuhou-senpai to wipe my memories of you and moving in with her instead."

At that word powerful anger flared up within the electro master. A flame seemed to burn in her eyes as tendrils of lightning snaked out into the air around her. In a deceptively level voice that one might think held a calm tone if they could not see the person from whom it originated Misaka said a single word, "What?" She knew that name, the name of her classmate who had done nothing but cause trouble for her for the past two years. Her guilt instantly vanished, replaced by a seething anger at the level five who was undoubtedly behind this.

"These past couple months... during these past couple months I've been going to her whenever... whenever I've been upset... whenever you've hurt my feelings unintentionally, at least I hope it's been unintentional. She takes the pain away, but it's getting worse," tears continued to fall from the younger girl's eyes as she spoke, "I love you Onee-sama... but this... I can't keep this up."

"Kuroko can't you just see she's using you?" Misaka screamed, looking into Kuroko's eyes, searching for the twinkling in the eyes that appeared in those who were being controlled by the Queen only to see that there wasn't anything of the sort. The only shining in those orbs were the tears that poured forth even more heavily than before.

"I thought so too at first but..." the teleporter shook her head, "She takes away the pain. She's been kind to me and doesn't seem to want anything from me."

"She's just manipulating you, can't you see that? You know what she's like." Misaka insisted, certain that this was nothing but a prank from the blonde that had gone way too far. She'd sort this out and then make sure that Shokuhou-san would never bother Kuroko again.

"I do know what she's like... better than you do. As for being manipulated... either way I'm being controlled by a level 5. Whether it's her ability or my love for you my life, my body, heart, soul, and mind belongs to a level 5. The difference is that Shokuhou-senpai wants them, the difference is that Shokuhou-senpai won't hurt them." Hearing the teleporter defend the Level five in such a manner hurt far more than Misaka could have imagined. That last sentence especially embedded in her like a barb. Had she really hurt Kuroko that much? Was she really so awful that even someone like the Queen was kinder to her?

"Kuroko," Misaka said weakly, this time her voice more filled with desperation than anger.

"If you ever want me back then just go and ask Shokuhou-senpai to restore my memories. I'll tell her to do it if you ask, but if you do that then you have to be ready to accept me... all of me. I don't want to hurt anymore Onee-sama..." The girl disappeared before Misaka could say anything further.

* * *

Misaka fell back heavily onto the bed as she replayed what happened in her head, trying to think of some reason for it all.

"Oh... I get it... this is all some sort of prank a ploy to get me to appreciate you more isn't it. You want me to give you permission to grope me just to get you to stay or something?" Misaka said out loud, "well it isn't going to work. I'm onto you so just come out and stop this charade." She furrowed her brow and glared at the walls, hoping that the teleporter would pop out of one of them, "pretty good acting but I know you'd never do something like that... to... me..." Her glare faltered as a tear escaped and she was forced to wipe it away.

It wasn't a charade, Misaka knew that. She'd hardly be able to deceive herself for long with such a ridiculous claim. Kuroko was far too serious a person to joke about such a thing.

Of course just because she wasn't joking didn't mean that it wasn't a lie. The Queen could have been using her abilities. Maybe the sparkling didn't always show itself or the tears had just made it hard to see. She would go and give her a piece of her mind.

She got more and more worked up, getting angrier and angrier at the Queen, at Kuroko, at herself, at everyone. It eventually got her into trouble when the Dorm Mistress came up and knocked on the door before opening it.

She gave a glance towards the sparks coming out of Misaka's forehead as she paced around the room her fists clenched. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't even notice the Dorm Mistress had come in. The older woman decided to use this to her advantage as she waited until the girl's pacing brought her close then she reached forward to snap her neck for violating the rules.

She got several hundred volts running through her arms at that action causing her to recoil and scold herself for such stupidity. It did get Misaka's attention though.

"Dorm Mistress..." she said with fright, despite the fact that she had just proven that she had nothing to fear from the woman.

"You know that you are not allowed to use powers in the dorm," she scolded as she cradled her hands, wondering how Shirai could stand all the electricity that her room mate was always zapping her with. Even that small amount felt so awful.

"Powers..." she said confused, "I wasn't..." however now that it was mentioned she noted the increased amount of electricity in the air around her, as if she had been releasing a lot of it, "I didn't know I was using them... sorry." The apology came out weakly.

The older woman sighed, accepting the explanation, seeing just how out of it the electro master seemed to be. "Very well... just keep an eye on it next time." She frowned as she tried to recall the reason she had come up here to begin with. It came to her quickly, "Ah yes... I received this notice," the dorm mistress held up a piece of paper, "it is a notice informing me that your room mate has willing vacated this room. I have come to confirm this, where is Shirai-san?"

Misaka didn't answer, only stepped forward and clutched the sheet of paper that was being held out and began to read it. It was exactly what she had said it had been. Anger began surging through her blood again, causing sparks to leap from her hands and scorch the paper black where her fingers clutched it.

Only the dorm mistress quickly yanking the paper out of her grasp spared the pair from a conflagration inside the room as the older woman glared at the level five in front of her and saw just how visibly upset she seemed. Even with the paper now out of her grip she stood there as if she was still holding it, still glaring at it.

"It's a trick," Misaka claimed after a short while, her voice full of anger, "that was written while under the influence of Shokuhou Misaki's ability."

"Do you have any proof?" The Dorm Mistress asked, though she had to admit that it was a more likely scenario than the younger girl willingly giving up something that she had gone through so much trouble to attain.

"No... but... it's Kuroko... I know her better than anyone, and I know that this isn't the kind of thing that she'd do." Misaka insisted.

"Very well... I shall investigate this." The dorm mistress left the room as Misaka sat back on the bed twiddling her thumbs and waiting for the verdict. She knew what it would be of course, she knew that the Queen had to be behind this, pulling the strings. If it wasn't... then it was all her fault wasn't it?

Her hands balled into fists. "No," she declared aloud. It wasn't her fault at all, it was Kuroko's fault for not being able to be mature about this, it was Kuroko's fault for not being able to compromise in the slightest so they could continue to be friends, it was Kuroko's fault for not being able to consider Misaka's feelings in this matter and being so selfish.

The Dorm Mistress came in about an hour later and told her the bad news. "Shokuhou Misaki has denied these claims of manipulation via her ability and has provided proof as to the validity of her claim," she told Misaka. Apparently the Queen had what was known as a "power log", which was used to keep track of criminal ESPers or those with particular powers, such as Shokuhou's, by reading any spike in AIM field activity that meant they were using their power. Since it would be far too easy for people to claim to be manipulated by her as a way to get out of trouble there needed to be a quick, easy way to verify whether or not she had used her power a certain way on a certain person.

"She probably altered it," Misaka protested, "there's no way-"

"I'm afraid that's how it is," the older woman interrupted her voice colored with an air of finality that would not allow any sort of insubordination or protest, "furthermore Kuroko has confirmed her new residence and has requested that the remainder of her belongings be transferred to the interior dormitories. She will not be doing it personally so if you could please separate your belongings to make it easier for the people who will be picking the stuff up it would be greatly appreciated."

The dorm mistress turned to leave, mumbling to herself on her way out and leaving Misaka alone.

* * *

Sleep that night was fitful. The room was too empty, too quiet for any real rest. She ended up leaving at an early hour and just walking around, trying to get her mind in order. Zapping a few gangs of delinquents helped calm her down a bit but she still felt so uneasy, so angry. There was a voice in her head that told her that she wasn't supposed to be feeling angry, but another part of her told that voice that it was easier to feel angry than anything else. It was a common source of inner turmoil, though mostly directed towards Touma rather than Kuroko.

She'd been walking for hours (had it really been that long?) when Saten-san rang her up and asked her if she wanted to hang out at Benny's with her and Uiharu. She agreed, figuring that spending some time with her friends might calm her down.

She arrived at the diner and Saten greeted her enthusiastically. She put on a fake smiled and returned the greeting. She sat down at the booth and looked at Uiharu, who was looking at the menu. "You're off work really early again Uiharu-san," Misaka noted.

"Well yeah..." Uiharu confirmed, looking a little guilty and perhaps a tad frightened, "Kuroko's been so engrossed in work that I've been slipping her my work to do and leaving early for a while now. It seems she hasn't noticed yet."

"Uiharu... I had no idea you were so devious," Saten grinned.

Uiharu shrugged, "She causes most of the paperwork it's only fair that she does it."

The waitress came and they ordered their lunches. They ate and talked about various things. Misaka was careful to steer the conversation away from Kuroko. It still annoyed her to hear that name.

These efforts were effective as the topic turned from the teleporter to the latest music and things like that and did not return to the auburn haired girl until the very end, right as they (which was to say Uiharu) got dessert.

Saten giggled as Uiharu looked happily at the parfait in front of her, "this is the part where Kuroko would normally interrupt and drag you back isn't it?"

Uiharu waved her off as she held onto the parfait and prepared her first bite, "She hasn't noticed yet, what makes you think she'll notice now."

"Yes... what makes you think I'll notice now..." A voice suddenly said from beside the table, causing Uiharu to jump in fright and surprise and knock her parfait off the table before she managed to get a bite.

They turned to see the teleporter standing there, her hands folded across her chest and her eyebrow up, wordlessly asking for some sort of explanation. For some reason Misaka felt her heart skip a beat.

"Shi-Shi-Shirai-san," Uiharu stammered, "I... what are you doing here."

"Telling you that I do not appreciate being saddled with **your** work," the teleporter said in a calm voice that somehow scared Uiharu more than her angry one, "I have quite enough of my own to do and I do not like having to stay behind even longer to do more paperwork than I have to."

"Sorry Shirai-san..." Uiharu said apologetically, bowing low and trying her hardest not to further infuriate the teleporter.

In an effort to calm things down Saten smiled and said, "why don't you stay and have something to drink. Misaka is here."

Kuroko frowned at her, "Misaka-san is **your** friend not mine. If I'm going to be hanging around Tokiwadai students I'd prefer to be near ones with more class and dignity; like Shokuhou-senpai. Speaking of which I think I've kept her waiting long enough... Goodbye Saten-san, Uiharu..." The teleporter did not even deign to give a farewell to the third person of the group before she turned around and walked out of the diner.

The jaws of the two black haired girls dropped to the table in puzzlement and surprise.

"Did... She... I... huh?" Uiharu spluttered eloquently, a sentiment that was echoed by Saten's own valiant but doomed attempts at getting a coherent sentence out.

"Just another one of her tantrums. Ignore it," Misaka huffed with an air of finality.

"But," Uiharu began to protest.

"Ignore it," the level five barked again, slamming her fist down upon the table as a crackle of lightning erupted from her brow.

The two went quiet immediately, genuinely scared of their friend. They quickly excused themselves, leaving Misaka alone at the table. She cradled her head in her hands and suddenly felt like crying.

* * *

The next day was even worse. It was a school day and the hallways were absolutely buzzing with rumors. Not too much was known yet, but many people had seen Shokuhou Misaki, the Queen herself, walking to school with Shirai Kuroko, the annoying first year teleporter who always hogged Misaka's attention. A few sources even claimed to have seen the auburn haired level four walking out of the blonde's room with her. The only good thing was that Misaka had been so tired she had overslept and almost been late, meaning she heard very few of these whispers before the bell rang and school began.

This changed when lunch came around. At first Misaka was grateful for the ringing of the bell. She had forgotten breakfast in her mad dash out the door and was, unsurprisingly, quite hungry now. Then she realized that she had also forgotten to pick up one of the maid-made bentos that she typically had for lunch. She realized she'd have to get something in the cafeteria.

She walked into the cafeteria, which was packed with people. She felt several stares boring into her as she went up to the kitchen, which she was used to given her level and status, however it felt like even more attention than usual. She ordered something and within a minute it was handed to her, hot and fresh. She wondered whether or not she should take it somewhere, like the roof or back to her classroom. A growling in her stomach told her that here was fine. She sat down at an empty table and began eating her meal.

It wasn't long before a girl who Misaka had never seen before sat next to her. "Hey there Misaka-sama," she said politely as her voice practically dripped with fake friendliness. "I heard what happened. That first year friend of yours abandoned you for the Queen... it's such an awful thing to do. She's a horrible person... a leech who feeds off of people of higher status. It's sad really... but don't worry. I'm here for you, I won't betray you like she did."

Sparks jumped between the tines of the fork as Misaka tried to keep her temper despite the horrible things this girl was saying about a person she still considered to be a friend. She didn't really have to respond as another girl came and sat down. "That's right, we're nothing like that power hungry-"

"Hey, I was comforting her," the first girl protested angrily.

"You were just making her more upset," the new girl countered. The fight was soon joined by more people and Misaka remembered why she didn't eat in the cafeteria. She stood up and left, hearing as the people behind her continued their argument, blaming each other for her leaving as others tried to follow, apologizing for the others while playing up the fact that they had tried to stop the fighting even though they, in actuality, had been as big a part of it as any of the others.

She didn't say a word, trying to tune them out. It wasn't working and she slowly got angrier and angrier. She felt like she was about to snap by the time she was halfway back to her class, the kiss-ass brigade still hot on her heels. She was about to just turn around and yell at the lot of them when they stopped talking. She glanced back and saw as the whole consort turned to leave. As they did they slowly revealed a blond girl standing down the hallway with a smirk on her face, pointing a remote forward before putting it away in her bag. Beside her stood a familiar auburn haired girl.

"Did you really need to interfere Shokuhou-senpai?" Kuroko asked the older girl, "she was probably enjoying having all that attention."

"She looked angry thought. It's my duty as a fellow classmate to help her," the level five explained.

"She still looks angry, in fact she looks angrier," Kuroko noted.

"Hmm... I wonder why..." the Queen shrugged as she leaned down to kiss Kuroko who returned it all too willingly.

A flare of anger exploded within Misaka as the hallway lights exploded. The covering prevented them from being bombarded with glass shards and the windows allowed enough light in to keep it from being dark, but the effect was still loud and noticeable. Also loud and noticeable was Misaka's yelling as she screamed, "What the hell?! Why are you doing this?! What do you want from me?! Do you just want to make me as miserable as possible?!"

A glare was leveled at her, "Such ego... it's not always about you you know. I just want to make her happy," Shokuhou explained, "Is that really so hard to believe? You had all the chances in the world to do the same, to be a good friend, but you did nothing but hurt her. Is it a surprise that, when I offered a way out, she took it?"

"Don't give me that bullshit," Misaka continued to shout, "you're just manipulating her."

"No more than you did. The difference is I'm manipulating her to be happy rather than depressed," Shokuhou shot back, "the difference is that I appreciate and accept her, rather than trying to change her."

Before Misaka could get another word out the bell rang. Kuroko disappeared after her memory of the conversation was wiped (it was just too confusing otherwise explaining what they were talking about), leaving the two level fives to glare at each other.

"Why do you hate me so much Misaki..." the electro master found herself asking, her voice now just above a whisper as opposed to the yelling before. Desperation colored her voice as she tried to figure out why the other girl was doing this to her.

"I don't... I never have," Shokuhou said, her own voice in that same whisper and surprisingly sincere, "There was a time I wanted nothing more than to be your friend. But after seeing how you treat your best friend... I think it's safer to be your enemy." She turned on her heel and left.

* * *

After that Misaka decided to just leave it. She didn't need Kuroko, she didn't need that traitor, to have fun. She still had Saten and Uiharu. They were her friends, and they were better friends than Kuroko ever would be. She'd be getting a new room mate soon as well, and she was sure they'd be better than Kuroko. No matter how bad they were they'd surely be better than that perverted teleporter right? And if all else failed she still had that spiky haired idiot. She would be just fine without Kuroko in her life.

How wrong she was...

For all her faults Kuroko cared immensely for Misaka and did her best to make her happy, to make her life easier. Her new room mate had no such regard for her. While the new girl was a fan of Misaka's and had that same sort of blind admiration that all the other fans had she didn't really care about the electro master at all as a person. She was obnoxious and inconsiderate, hogging the bathroom all morning and talking on the phone late at night. She would layer on the compliments to her face then whisper harsh words about her childish nature behind her back.

Misaka might not have been able to trust her auburn haired ex-room mate to not teleport into the shower with her, but she knew she could trust Kuroko with any secret and she knew that the girl wouldn't tell a soul. She knew she could be herself around Kuroko without worrying about the younger girl's opinion of her. As it was she needed to put on her mask of maturity and compassion at home as well as school in an attempt to maintain her reputation and image.

This, of course, stressed her out considerably. She'd forgotten how hard it was to pretend to be someone she wasn't all the time, to constantly try to live up to the expectations of others. She allowed herself to be herself around Saten and Uiharu, who were still concerned about Kuroko's recent behavior.

"Do you know what's going on Misaka?" Saten asked her when they had met up, "with Shirai I mean. When I talked about you she didn't seem to consider you anything more than an acquaintance and she didn't call you Onee-sama once."

"And she's acting kind of different too... she's a lot calmer. She doesn't even get angry at me as much anymore," Uiharu added.

Misaka sighed and explained what had happened.

"Her memories of you were wiped?" Uiharu spluttered in surprise.

"Why?" Saten asked.

"Because she can't handle not being more than friends," Misaka huffed, "now she's going out with that damn Shokuhou."

"Are you jealous Misaka?" Saten prompted.

"What the hell would I have to be jealous over," the electro master seethed, "it's fine with me. Good riddance to that idiot and her perverted actions, I'm doing fine without her."

"Well... if you're happy about it... she seems happy too, so maybe it was for the best," Uiharu mused, not particularly feeling like going against the level five's words what with those nasty looking sparks jumping from her hand to the silverware subconsciously.

Indeed the stress, and the anger it brought on, which came about as a result of both her new room mate and her old one made the black haired pair ever more wary of her and they began wanting to hang around her less and less.

That was the other thing about the teleporter. No matter what Misaka did to her she would always want to be around her... until now at least.

She tried hanging out with Touma but he was rude, obnoxious, and didn't know how to make her feel special like Kuroko always did. To the Imagine Breaker Misaka was just another one of the girls that surrounded him, not special at all. He had no real interest in her as anything other than a friend.

It was a little under 3 weeks when Misaka found herself asking what she thought she was doing with all of this. She kept on trying but she found she just couldn't deny the fact that she missed Kuroko... she missed her a lot. She was absolutely miserable without that little pervert... without her best friend. She was practically addicted to that girl, and now she was going through the most hellish withdrawal imaginable.

"If you ever want me back then just go and ask Shokuhou-senpai to restore my memories. I'll tell her to do it if you ask, but if you do that then you have to be ready to accept me... all of me. I don't want to hurt anymore Onee-sama..." That was what she had said... That meant not zapping her when she kissed her or groped her right? It would mean becoming her girlfriend rather than just her friend, like what the Queen had with her.

Once upon a time, less than a month ago even, such thoughts would have embarrassed her greatly. Longer ago still they might have even disgusted her. But right now she didn't feel anything of the sort. She wanted it, wanted it desperately, if only because it meant that she'd be able to see that smile again, to hear that voice speak kind words to her again, to feel the happiness and contentment that only the teleporter could stir within her.

She knew she didn't deserve it... she knew that she didn't even deserve the chance for all that she had done to the girl... but she promised herself that she'd be better from now on if the teleporter was kind enough to grant her that chance.

* * *

Now all she had to do was find the other level five and get her to undo her hold over Kuroko.

She found the blond walking around the Garden's of Education. "Shokuhou-san," she called as she spotted her.

"What are **you** doing here Misaka-san?" the blond said with her voice full of suspicion as she turned to look at the girl who had just called out to her.

"I..." She sighed and slumped her shoulders as she continued, "Kuroko said that if I was ever ready to accept her that I could come to you and ask you to return her memories... I'm ready to do that, so please... Give Kuroko back."

"No," Shokuhou said simply.

"Huh?" Misaka said, a little surprised by this refusal.

"I said no," the telepath repeated, "I'm not giving Kuroko back to someone who doesn't appreciate her."

"Doesn't... of course I appreciate her! I've done a lot for her, I'm even willing to go along with this whole," she gestured wildly, "this whole whatever this is just to get her back."

"Oh isn't that great... you're willing to put up with her... to tolerate her," Shokuhou mocked, "tolerating someone and accepting them are different Misaka-san. You 'tolerate' pain, you 'tolerate' the buzzing of mosquitoes, you don't 'tolerate' friends. Being willing to go along with it is just tolerating it, wanting to go along with it is accepting it."

"I don't need your pedantics Shokuhou-san," Misaka said, raising her voice and shoulders.

"It's not pedantics... It's a big important difference. Are you willing to make Kuroko happy? Are you willing to kiss her back when she wants to kiss you? Are you willing to accept her affections rather than hurting her for trying to express her love? More importantly do you want to do any of that, or is this just because you can't stand seeing her with someone else? Do you want Kuroko back or do you want your friend back."

Misaka clenched her hands into fists, "I... I... I want Kuroko. I want to see her again... I want to see her smile and laugh... I want her to hug me and kiss me and I want to do it back," her face was a bright red as she said this, her voice getting quieter and quieter, "I want her to love me again... and I want to love her back..."

"I mentioned this to you before... but I wanted to be your friend when we first met... I still do..." The Queen said, then she shrugged and turned around, "I guess you can't always get what you want."

Misaka's eyes widened and she practically growled as she stepped forward and swung the other girl around to face her, "what the hell?! Are you still going to be angry about that? Is this all some sort of revenge because I didn't want to be your friend? Are you really that petty?!"

"No," Shokuhou denied as she stepped back out of the electro master's grip, "this isn't about you... at least not anymore it isn't. This is about the fact that I don't want to give up my first and only friend to someone who has done nothing but hurt her in the past. This is about the fact that I finally have someone who I like, who I love, and I don't want to give it away like you did so easily."

"You're surrounded by people all the time. What the hell are you talking about 'only friend'?" Misaka countered.

"Just because I have people around me doesn't mean they're my friends. They're just after my power or status, none of them see me as a person. Kuroko does. Kuroko is the first person I've known who cares about me, and who I care about in return. If I lose Kuroko then I have nobody, at least you have your other friends."

"But they're not Kuroko. I don't want a friend I want her. If a friend is all you want then I'll be your friend."

"But you're not Kuroko. I don't want a friend I want her," Shokuhou repeated the electro master's words, "You'd be just the same as all the others, forced to be my friend against your will. I don't want friends like that... I'm tired of having friends like that... Friends who I need to manipulate, who I need to control. Is it too much to ask for a person who cares about me because of who I am?" the Queen shouted at her.

Misaka wanted to shout right back. She wanted to shock the other girl, to hurt her and threaten her and force her to bring Kuroko back... but... There had to be other methods. She had relied on force for far too long and it had never brought her anything but trouble. She needed to start talking with her words and feelings rather than with her fists and lightning. She took a deep breath to relax herself and began to speak in a calm, level voice. "If that's what you want, if you want a friend who you don't need to manipulate, who is only with you because they like you and want to be with you... then you have to give Kuroko her memories back."

"I'm not using her memories to manipulate her. All of her actions are made by her own free will, not by my hand," Shokuhou argued.

"Our memories make up who we are. By cutting out a part of them you're rejecting her just as much as I was. If she's with you only because she likes you and wants to be with you, then that won't change just because she gets her memories back. It's not like her memories of you will fade. If you truly believe that she cares about you and you care about her more than I care for her and she cares for me, then she'll stay with you even with her memories back." Misaka reasoned, "If she wants you even when she remembers everything about me then I promise I'll leave you alone from now on. I'll cheer for your happiness... but I want the chance at least... one more chance... please."

"But... but..." Shokuhou stammered, "you've had your chances... so many chances. I don't see why you should always get your way, why I should have to put Kuroko through that just to indulge you."

"It isn't to indulge me, it is to give her a choice. If you truly love someone you're supposed to set them free, and if they love you in return they'll come back."

Shokuhou looked at her, then she clenched her hands into fists and got a phone out of her pocket. She dialed a number and waited, "Hey Kuroko-chan, would you mind coming over, it's kind of important. I'll meet you at the park ok? Love you, bye..." She looked at Misaka again and gestured her to follow as she began to walk towards the park where it all began. They were close and Kuroko had a few things to do before she left, so they arrived there first. Kuroko followed shortly after.

"What did you need Shok-" She began but was cut off when Misaki pulled out a remote and restored the teleporter's memories. Kuroko's eyes widened for a second as all the memories rushed back. She was frozen to the spot for a while as she tried to sort it all out. The two level fives were holding back tears as they awaited their judgement.

However Shokuhou couldn't hold them back any longer. At the prospect of being abandoned she began to bawl.

As if on reflex the teleporter appeared beside her and wiped the tears away with a handkerchief as she spoke comforting words in a soothing tone.

"See... she chose you after all," Misaka sighed, realizing that it was inevitable, that she really didn't deserve the second chance after all. She turned and began to leave when a hand clamped around her wrist.

"Chose? What am I choosing?" Kuroko asked, having teleported over to grab onto her with her free hand while still dabbing at the blond's tears.

"W-Which o-one of us y-you w-want to be w-with," Shokuhou told her through the sniffles.

"I-it's ok... I-I understand," Misaka said, now crying herself, "y-you choose her. It's good... I hope you're happy together."

Kuroko frowned and pulled Misaka's Gekota handkerchief out of the electro master's pocket and dabbed at the chestnut haired girl's tears as well, "I can't choose something like that... You're both important to me... I love you both... you can't ask me to only choose one. I'd rather give up breathing than give up either of you," she stated.

"Huh..." the two said simultaneously, not expecting this outcome in the slightest.

"I have enough love for the both of you... so... can't we just..." Kuroko continued trying to find the words that fit what she was trying to say.

"You... want us **both** to be your girlfriends... like an affair?" Misaka asked.

"More like bigamy, though we aren't married yet... so I suppose it would be biamorousness..."

"Like what Tsuki decided to do with Yuu and Riku?" Shokuhou asked.

"Huh?" Misaka asked, getting even more confused.

"Characters in this really bad soap opera that Shokuhou-senpai loves for some reason," Kuroko explained, "but it actually is a good example."

"What in the world are you talking about..." Misaka demanded, still way more confused than she would like to be.

"What do you mean it's awful..." Shokuhou asked, still not used to having someone disagree with her tastes.

Kuroko sighed and leaned up to give Shokuhou a quick peck on the lips, "it's awful," she then turned and gave an identical one to Misaka, "So is Gekota, for entirely different reasons."

"Someone whose favorite movie is Enter the Dragon has no right to call Akiya Sora awful," Shokuhou huffed, though her indignation was somewhat tempered by the kiss.

Misaka's head was swirling after the kiss but these words brought her back to reality, "Akiya Sora? You meant **that **Tsuki? She actually got together with Riku?"

"You know the show?" Shokuhou said surprised.

"I used to love it. I still try to keep track of it but I haven't been able to watch it recently. How have you been able to?"

"I have a TV in the room. If you want you can come over sometime and watch it. I have most of the episodes recorded."

"In fact," Kuroko said, "why not move in... the interior dorms are much bigger and it would get rid of the hassle of having to go between. Not to mention the fact that that could get me in trouble with the dorm mistresses..." she shivered.

"Wait... I'm still not entirely sure I'm comfortable with this whole biamourousness whatever..." Misaka said, realizing she had let herself get sidetracked.

"Well I'm fine with it," Shokuhou shrugged, actually far more excited at the prospect than she was letting on. The idea that she could have both Kuroko and the original object of her attention was incredible. Now she'd have 2 friends, 4 if you counted the pair of black haired girls that Kuroko had introduced her to and who she found she quite liked.

Kuroko looked at Misaka with a pitiful, pleading, and unbearably cute gaze complete with matching pout, "it would make me so unbelievably happy if you'd consider it."

Misaka blushed deeply as she felt her heart skip a beat. "F-fine," she said, "my new room mates annoying anyway."

The smile that Kuroko had on her face upon hearing that was so wide that the corners of her mouth practically met in the back of her head. Things were going to get better from here on, she knew.

"So... you're going out with Misaka-san **and** Shokuhou-san," Uiharu asked incredulously the next day upon inquiring why her fellow Judgment agent hadn't stopped smiling like a madman since the flower headed girl walked in and greeted her with one of the warmest and happiest greetings she had ever heard and had been told that she had a date tonight with the two of them.

"Yep," Kuroko smiled, "I'm pretty sure that means I've won at life: having not just one kind, caring, beautiful, perfect level five as a girlfriend, but 2 of them."

"I hope that cheers Misaka up," Saten remarked not even bothering to be too surprised at this point, "she's been pretty down..."

"She was happy when I left her, though she would never say it," Kuroko chuckled. Her Onee-sama was as bashful as ever, even going so far as to refuse her goodbye kiss initially. Luckily she was more competitive than bashful and when Shokuhou-senpai had offered to take the kiss from her in addition to the one she had already received Misaka was more concerned with not letting the blond "win" than she was about her embarrassment, even taking the aggressive stance and kissing Kuroko on her own.

* * *

The next couple of weeks were spent moving Misaka into the Queen's room and letting the electro master get used to her new, and her old, room mate and letting them get used to her in turn. The Queen was actually a lot more considerate than she would have pegged her for. A lot more fun as well. They actually shared quite a few of their tastes and hobbies, something which Kuroko found both great, because they could bond a little over them, and annoying, when they used their majority to outvote her about certain things.

Shokuhou still teased Misaka but the electro master soon learned that they were harmless jabs and that she really cared about both Kuroko and her. Despite the fact that she hadn't really looked forward to being in a relationship with the Queen to begin with she found that it was really much better than she thought it would be and she was soon more than happy to count the blond on her list of friends.

Of course this caused an unimaginable amount of buzz in school. The students had, at the beginning, turned on Kuroko, the source of this trouble and the girl who was hogging, not one, but both of their idols. But they soon learned that messing with a girl who has two level fives protecting her is not a good idea. They eventually started really liking the idea of the Ace and the Queen together and began to form a fan club dedicated to both of them, an act which quelled most of the students' infighting leading to a more peaceful school.

Everybody, it seemed, got their own happily ever after...

* * *

Author's Note: And... done... I hope you enjoyed reading Addiction as much as I enjoyed writing it. Be sure to favorite it and leave lots of reviews!

About the "Power Log" thing... It only makes sense when you think about it. It really should exist in canon. In my story it just functioned as a way to assure Misaka that the Queen wasn't actually controlling Kuroko.

This time the title is the Japanese word for ecstasy (the feeling not the drug, since that's the only thing made up of kanji, which look so much prettier). I'm sure you can guess why I chose it...


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